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APP- 



VOICE CULTURE 



ELOCUTION 



/ 

WM. T. ROSS, A. M. 



[author's edition I 



SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 

PAYOT. UPHAM & CO,, PUBLISHERS, 
1886. 







Copyright, 1886. 

By WM. T. ROSS. 
All rights reserved. 



Printed by Golden Era Co. 



PREFACE. 



Voice Culture and Elocution is designed to supply 
a want long felt by the author, for a text-book combining 
in a more practical form the following features : 

Clear and concise statements and explanations of prin- 
ciples ; explicit and full directions for exercise under 
rules ; and a liberal supply of carefully selected sentences 
and paragraphs for study and practice. 

The book includes : 

i. Exercises in Calisthenics and in Gesture arranged 
for systematic practice, by means of which ease, grace 
and versatility in Movement and Gesture may be ac- 
quired. 

2. Brief explanation ot the Organs of Speech, with full 
directions for development of the Breathing Organs, and 
for acquiring control and economy of breath. 

3. Simple and explicit directions for the cultivation, 
preservation and proper use of the voice in speaking and 
in singing. 

4. Explanation and classification of the Elements of 
Speech, with a complete arrangement of tables, words 
and sentences for practice in Articulation. 



5« A clear and concise statement of principles, with 
full directions for practice under the rules. 

6. Copious and carefully selected sentences and para- 
graphs, arranged for the exemplification of rules and 
principles, and for practice under thdm. And, 

7. A choice 'collection of original and selected pieces 
for Reading and Recitation. 

The author, not wishing to burden his text-book with 
what can be easily and cheaply obtained from the various 
publications, has devoted only a limited space to selec- 
tions. 

It has been his aim to' embody in this work the course 
of instruction which has resulted from an experience of 
twenty-five years in the profession, — a course that has 
stood the test of practical experiment. 

In the hands of the intelligent student and the faithful 
teacher, the author feels confident that his text-book will 
be a valuable aid toward the acquisition of the Art of 
Elocution. 

Permission for the use of specified extracts and se- 
lections have been kindly granted by The Century Co., 
of New York; S. C. Griggs & Co., of Chicago ; Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co., of Boston, and other Publishers. 

W. T. R. 

San Francisco, Cal., 1886. 



CONTENTS. 



Introductory : 

Province of Elotfution ix 

Benefits to be Derived from its Study x 

Elocution : 

Voice — Action — Gesture i 

. Voice Qualifications. . .• 2 

Calisthenics : 

Exercises — Chest — Ann — Body — Head — Instep 3 

" for Wrist and Ann Relaxation 6 

Indian Dance . 7 

Gesture ; 

Province and Aim .... 8 

Position — Steps — Arms at Rest 9 

Initial Movement — Unfoldment — " Ictus " 13 

Intellectual l'«asis and Scope . 15 

Notation — Directions— How to Practice 17 

Exercises, — [Hand] — Supine -Prone — Vertical — Index . . 20 

" Clinched — Clasped — Folded — Wringing 27 

" Crossed on Breast — Applied 30 

Preparation for the Gesture " . 31 

Miscellaneous Examples 33 

Significant Gestures : 

Pantomime Language 37 

Head — Eyes — Arms — Hands — Body. 38 

Organs of Speech : 

Breathing — Voice — Articulation. 43 

Breathing Exercises : 

Abdominal — Blowing and Sipping the Breath 49 



VI CONTENTS. 

Full and Deep — Audible Expulsion 50 

Deep Breathing while Walking , 51 

Effusive — Expulsive — Explosive 53 

Voice Culture : 

Necessity for a Good Yoice — Free Throat 55 

Definitions, — Time, Quantity, Quality, etc.. 57 

Exercises, — Production of Tone — Pure — Glottis Stroke.. 58 

Projecting the Tone — Flexibility of Voice 63 

Exercises for Mouth, Tongue and Lips 65 

Articulation : 

How to Improve the Articulation 67 

Classification and Formation of the Elements 68 

Elementary Sounds, — (Phonetic Arrangement) 7° 

Exercise in Combinations — [Tables] 7 2 

Difficult Combinations with Words and Sentences 79 

Table of Vowels with Diacritical Marks 103 

Analysis of Words 104 

Vowel Sound Practice in Sentences 106 

Reading by Vowel Sounds 129 

Sentences of Difficult Articulation I2Q 

An Alphabetical Alliteration 132 

Pronunciation, — A Habit — How to Practice 133 

Exercise of Difficult Pronunciations *34 

Modulation and Expression : 

Definitions, — Pitch — Force — Stress 137 

Pitch : 

Exercises for Increase of Compass 138 

Middle — High — Very High — Low — Very Low 141 

Force : 

Loud and Abrupt — Smooth and Subdued 148 

Emphasis : 

General Rules, with Exercises 15° 

Stress, — Monotone — Median — Expulsive and Explosive 

Radical 152 

Terminal — Compound — Thorough — Intermittent 159 

Laughter, — Exercises for Practice of Different Kinds. . . 166 

Inflection : 

General Rules for the Rising and Falling Slides 169 

Cadence 172 



Time : 

Quantity and Movement 174 

Pause : 

Rhetorical 179 

Cesural 181 

" Grouping," and Exercises in Rhetorical Analysis 182 

Emphasis : 

By Force, by Time and by Slide 185 

Antithesis — Emphatic Repetition — Climax 189 

The Significance of Modulation and Emphasis 196 

Transition : 

In Expression and in Personation 198 

Quality : 

Exercises in Pure and Impure 201 

Imitative Modulation 204 

Rhythmus and Melody ■ 

Measure of Speech 206 

Style : 

Colloquial — Declamatory — Dramatic — etc 212 

Hints to the Student of Elocution 229 

Hamlet's Advice to the Players 234 

Advice to Speakers 236 



SELECTIONS. 



The Hero of Lake Erie Fred Emerson Brooks . . 237 

The Tell-Tale Eye R. W. Emerson 240 

The Field of Waterloo Byron 243 

The Sunset of Battle 246 

Rain on the Roof Coates Kinney 248 

Caesar Crossing the Rubicon Knowles 249 

The Life-Boat 251 

The Miner's Reverie 252 

Use and Misuse of Words E. P. Whipple 253 

The Courtship of Larry O'Dee 256 

Tell's Apostrophe to the Alps Knowles 257 



vlll CONTENTS. 

Napoleon Bonaparte Phillips 258 

Rienzi's Address to the Romans Miss Mitford 260 

Women All at Sea N. V. Graphic 261 

Cassius Against Csesar Shakespeare. . 265 

Marullus to the Roman Populace Shakespeare . .' 267 

Sounds Thoreau 268 

Voices of the Wildwood Ella Sterling Cummins. 269 

A Similar Case 272 

The Study of Nature /.. Agassiz 273 

The Petrified Fern 275 

An Incident at Sea Wm. T. Boss 276 

Grandpa's Nap. Fred E??ierson Brooks. . 278 

Marmion Taking Leave of Douglas . . . Scott 280 

Extract from a Lecture on Thackeray. G. S. Meade 282 

Catiline's Defiance Croly 283 

Against Employing Indians in War.. Lord Chatham 285 

The Frog and the Frenchman Fred Emerson Brooks . . 287 

Colonel Baker as an Orator. Clara S. Foltz 290 

Freedom .E.D. Baker 291 

The Golden Gate Madge Morris 292 

Feminine Pity * Holmes 294 

Bernardo Del Carpio. . Mrs. He?nans 295 

The Funny Story jfosephine Pollard 297 

The Isle of Long Ago . . .B.F. Taylor . . 298 

On the American Revolution Henry „ . 299 

Tell on his Native Hills Knoivles 301 

The Two Professions. 302 

The Lost Sheep Sally Pratt McLean. . . . 307 

The Murderer's Secret Webster 308 

A Psalm of Life I^ongfellow. 309 

Sprinkling the Streets 311 

Ode on the Passions Collins 313 

Liberty and Union Webster 316 

Wolsey's Fail Shakespeare 317 

Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua. Kellogg . -. 318 

Jf We Knew 320 

Charge of the Light Brigade Tennyson 322 

Quarrel Scene Between Brutus and 

Cassius .... Shakespeare 324 

The Flag of Our Union Geo. P. Morris 328 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The importance and utility of Elocution is so generally con- 
ceded, and so fully appreciated, that it is only necessary here to 
give a brief summary of its scope, and to mention a few of the uses 
to which it may be applied. 

Elocution does not consist in mere imitation of the voice and 
manner of the teacher, nor in the learning to recite pieces as a 
parrot learns to talk. 

Its province is to aid the pupil in acquiring ease, grace and ver- 
satility in gesture. 

To impart a knowledge of correct breathing, and the art of util- 
izing the breath in the proper production of tone. 

To discipline and develop the voice in qualities, compass, 
strength, flexibility and control. 

To improve the articulation so that each element may have its 
correct and due amount of sound in the enunciation of words. 

To communicate a practical knowledge of the principles and 
rules in modulation and expression. 

And to teach the pupil the art of using the rules and exercises of 
elocution, not as the end and aim of the study, but as the means 
for the better expression of thought and emotion. 

By such a course of instruction the individuality of the student 
is best preserved. This is a matter of the greatest importance — 
especially to one who has marked natural ability. 

The true province of elocution, therefore, is not to make a per- 
son less, but more natural. 



X INTRODUCTORY. 

The following are some of the benefits to be derived from the 
study, and the uses to which the art may be applied. 

Elocution is a means for artistic and intellectual culture. 

It is an accomplishment. 

It improves the conversational powers. 

To the possessor of the art, it is a solid satisfaction, and it en- 
hances the enjoyment of society. 

It is the best form of gymnastics — exercising in a salutary man- 
ner the most important functions of mind and body. 

Through a proper direction of its breathing and vocal exercises, 
it is made an important factor for the preservation and restoration 
of health. 

It stimulates thought through the reflex influence which well- 
spoken words are known to have upon the mind of the speaker. 

It aids in getting a higher appreciation of the beautiful and 
grand in literature. 

It brings out the subtler meanings of language through the 
proper enunciation of the words. 

It is one of the three essential branches of oratory, and neces- 
sary to the highest success in public speaking. 

To all instructors, needful; to the teacher of reading, indispen- 
sable. 

It is most essential to the study of drama, and important as a 

preparation for the actor's calling. 

" There's a charm in delivery, a magical art, 
That thrills like a kiss from the lip to the heart; 
'Tis the glance, the expression, the well-spoken word, 
By whose magic the depths of the spirit are stirred." 



VOICE CULTURE 

AND 

ELOCUTION. 



We must exclude everything from the definition of language, but 
actual speaking. * It is only by the spoken 

word that the speaker breathes his own life into the souls of his 
hearers. — WUhchn Von Humboldt. 

Delivery has the sole and supreme power in oratory. 

—Cicero. 

Elocution is the Art of expressing thought and 
feeling by means of Voice and Action. 

Voice is the result of air made audible, in its passage 
from the lungs, -by the action of the vocal ligaments. It 
becomes Speech, when individualized by the organs of 
resonance and articulation. 

Action is pantomime language, appealing to the 
eye. It comprises all the physical means for communi- 
cating thought and feeling. 

Gesture is a term synonomous with Action, and is 
the one more commonly used. It embraces Position, 
Poise and Movement. 



2 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The Voice Qualifications essential to a good elocu- 
tion, and which, if not already possessed by the student, 
must be acquired through the development and culture 
of the organs of speech, are, 

i. Fullness, Strength, Clearness and Resonance. 

2. Distinctness and Correctness of Articulation. 

3. Perfect adaptation and control of voice through the 
variations in Pitch, Stress, Time, and the other elements 
of vocal expression. 



CALISTHENICS. 



"The wise, for cure, on exercise depend." 



A few Calisthenic exercises should precede Gesture. 
They will contribute freedom and strength to the trunk 
and limbs. The following will be found ample for the 
purposes intended. 

Each movement should be repeated five to twenty 
times, depending upon the difficulty of the exercise, and 
upon the strength and convenience of the pupil. Ten to 
twenty minutes, once or twice a day, may be profitably 
devoted to systematic physical exercises. 

Position. — Weight of the body equally on both feet, 
heels together, and toes extending to the right and left 
at an angle of sixty degrees. Head erect, shoulders well 



CALISTHENICS. 3 

back and arms by the side — the military position. This 
is the attitude of attention, or "first position." 

Chest Extension. — With the arms extended in front, 
palms together, throw the arms horizontally backward, 
then return to the front on the same line, keeping the 
elbows straight and the body erect. The movement 
should be made only at the shoulder joints. 

Upward Chest Extension. — From " first position," 
without bending the elbows, swing the arms from the 
sides upward, striking back of hands together directly 
over head ; then, by reverse movement, return the arms to 
first position. 

These movements should be given slowly at first, in- 
creasing in rapidity and energy in the ratio of acquired 
strength and skill. 

Circular Movement of Arms. — 

i. Forward. From "first position," elbows straight, 
swing the arms forward, up in front, back close to the 
sides of the head and down behind to commencing po- 
sition, describing with the hands, as near as possible, par- 
allel circles. 

The arms are allowed to rotate freely at the shoulder 
joints. 

2. Backward. Carry the arms back, up, around and 
down in fiont, — the reverse of the preceding, ft may be 
best to practice first with each arm separately, and then 
both together. Great care should be taken to keep the 
feet firmly in position, the knees straight and the body 
perfectly erect. 

Arm and Body Movement Combined. — For com- 



4 VOICE AND CULTURE ELOCUTION. 

mencing position, extend the arms straight up each side of 
the head. Then, from this position, with elbows and 
knees kept straight, swing the arms down to the front, back, 
up, around and down again, at the same time bending 
the body forward, letting the bend be mostly at the hips. 

If it can be done with ease, allow the extended fingers 
to touch the floor. The reverse movement brings the 
body to an erect position, while the arms are carried back, 
down, and up in front to commencing position. 

Performed with energy, this is a most invigorating and 
econmical practice, giving the pupil the greatest amount 
of exercise in the shortest possible time. 

Body Movements. — 

i. Forward and backward. With hands on hips, 
knees and trunk straight, bend the body forward, then 
backward as far as possible. Repeat as often as desir 
able. 

2. Sideward. With the same conditions as in the 
preceding, bend the body first to the right side, then to 
the left, and continue the required number of times. 

3. Twisting the Trunk. With hands as before and 
feet kept firmly in position, twist the body to the right 
until the face is turned directly to the rear ; then reverse 
the movement, twisting the body to the left in like man- 
ner. 

4. With hands on hips, bend the body to the right, 
and then swing it around forward and to the left, back 
and around to the right, describing, with the head, as 
complete and large a circle as possible. The same move- 
ment is reversed. Three times each way is enough for 
one practice. The body is allowed to rotate freely at the 
hips, without bending the knees or moving the feet. 



calisthenics. 5 

Head Movements. — 

i. Forward and backward. With hands on hips, 
body kept erect and firm, first bend the head forward, 
then back, and repeat. 

2. Twisting. Turn the head to the right, bringing 
the chin over the shoulder, then to the left, and repeat. 

3. Sideward. Incline the head over the right shoul- 
der, then over the left, and so continue. 

4. Circular Movement of Head. Incline the head 
to the right, let it swing forward and around to the left, 
back, and around to the right, allowing it to ro- 
tate freely, with muscles of the neck relaxed. Repeat 
but three or four times, then reverse the movement. If 
continued too long, this exercise may produce dizziness ; 
but practiced in moderation, it is beneficial to the health, 
and encourages greater ease and freedom in the move- 
ments of the head in speech. 

Instep Flexion. — 

1. With hands on hips, elbows well back, and body 
erect, rise on the toes with an elastic spring, and then 
return gently to the commencing position. 

2. Raise the body, to the "tiptoe position," as in the 
preceding exercise. Then, by bending the knees, lower 
the body to a "squatting" position, but keeping the trunk 
erect, heels off the floor, and hands on the hips. Return 
to erect tiptoe position, and continue the exercise without 
letting the heels to the floor. 

In this, as in all physical exercises, practice gently until 
strength and facility is acquired. 

The following additional exercises for instep flexions 



O VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

may be practiced with some profit and no little amuse- 
ment. 

3. The Rocking Movement. Rise on toes and keep in 
tip toe position. Advance right foot to front ; then, with 
a springing movement, reverse the position of the feet, 
carrying the left foot to the front, and the right foot, at 
the same time, to the rear, — continuing the movement 
with a very elastic and light bound, allowing only the toes 
to touch the floor. 

Another more complex exercise is the following : 

4. Alternate spreading and crossing of feet. From 
the tip-toe position, with a springing movement spread 
the feet to the right and left ; then, with another spring, 
cross them, (the right in front of the left) ; then spread 
them apart as before ; and then, with another spring, 
cross the left in front of the right. Continue the move- 
ment with very light, elastic bounds, and always keeping 
on the toes. 

Wrist and Arm Movements. — 

1. With arms extended horizontally to the right and 
left, hands hanging loosely at the wrists, shake the arms, 
allowing the hands to dangle with perfect freedom as 
though they were lifeless appendages. 

2. With elbows bent and pressed against the sides of 
the body, lower arm extending to the front and upward, 
the hands hanging loose at the wrists, shake the lower 
arm up and down, sideways and around. 

These exercises give flexibility to the wrists — a most 
essential condition in gesture. 

A good exercise for acquiring the difficult art of letting 
the arms hang loosely from the shoulders and just where 



CALISTHENICS. 7 

the attraction of gravitation takes them, (which is one of 
the most important positions of the arms at rest), is the 
following : 

3. Let go the arms, allowing them to hang by the 
sides perfectly relaxed. Gently twist the body to the 
right, then to the left, and continue to increase the rapid- 
ity and strength of the movement, allowing the arms 
to swing or " flop " with perfect freedom. 

" Taking the mind or will out of the arms, and concen- 
trating it upon the movements of the body," will assist the 
pupil in accomplishing this, at first, difficult exercise. 

All movements that aid in the partial or complete 
natural relaxation or tension of the muscles of the trunk 
and limbs, contribute largely to the requirements of Action 
in the expression of thought and feeling. 

Perhaps one of the very best general exercises for the 
complete and partial relaxation or " decomposing " of the 
various muscles of the. neck, trunk and limbs, is what the 
author of this Manual calls, in his " Calisthenic Ex- 
ercises," (a small work published some time ago,) "The 
Indian Dance." 

The directions are as follows : Take " first posi- 
tion," rise on the toes, arms hanging loose by the sides, 
and muscles of the trunk relaxed. With the weight of 
the body on the right toe, hop twice ; then, with the 
weight on the left toe, hop in the same manner, and so on 
— alternately changing from one toe (foot) to the other. 

Be sure to keep the muscles of the neck, trunk and 
arms relaxed in the execution of this exercise, that it may 
jesult in a healthful and invigorating influence to the 
whole system. 



8 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The relaxation of the muscles of the neck and arms 
should be complete — the trunk and lower limbs but par- 
tial. 

The student of Elocution will find that in all physical 
exercises, especially the Breathing, it will be necessary to 
wear the clothing loose in order to practice the move- 
ments with comfort and profit. 



GESTURE. 



"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this 
special observance, that you o'er step not the modesty of nature." 

—Shakespeare. 



"What a piece of work is man ! How noble in reason ! how 
infinite in faculty ! in form and moving how express and ad- 
mirable! in action how like an angel/'in apprehension how like 
a god." —Shakespeare. 

Since, in the evolution of human expression, Gesture 
preceded speech, and in speech, Voice preceded Articula- 
tion, so this natural order should be observed in the 
study of Elocution. 

The study of gesture, and the practice of well-directed 
exercises for its encouragement and culture, is the first 
department of Expression to which the attention of the 
student should be called. 

Anatomy teaches that the movements of man are, by 
nature, those of grace. The articulations of the bones, 
and the attachment and arrangement of the muscles, all 
show that "the human form divine " was fashioned to ex- 



execute graceful curves — not angularities and straight 
lines. Artificial and awkward movements are natural 
to no one. To be natural, therefore, is to be graceful. 

True Gesture is largely the spontaneous outgrowth 
of the thought and feeling. " Nothing is more deplor- 
able than a gesture without a motive." Hence the 
student should not aim to acquire gesture so much as 
to acquire flexibility of the muscles, and habits of ease 
and grace of movements. 

The more readily and correctly the physical nature 
responds to the mental and emotional, the more perfect 
becomes the physical expression of thought and feeling. 
In the following systematic and progressively arranged ex- 
ercises for the cultivation and improvement of gesture, the 
conservation of this great law is kept steadily in view. 



POSITION AND STEPS. 

Right Foot Position. — Weight of body on the 
left foot, knee straight and toes to the left oblique. 
The right foot at right angles to the heel of the left, heels 
two to four inches apart and the right knee slightly bent. 

The left hip should extend a very little to the back- 
ward oblique and the head slightly to the left. 

The chest should be well to the front, which necessitates 
a forward curve in the small of the back. This position 
is favorable to abdominal breathing. Besides giving an 
easy, graceful and restful position, the right foot is ready 
for an advance step without a change of the gravity of 
the body. *' The supporting is the standing foot, — the 
other, the acting." 



IO VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

From this position, practice the following changes. 

i. Make a change in poise, without shifting the feet, 
by swaying the hips forward and a little to the right 
oblique, carrying the right hip obliquely to the front and 
bringing the weight of the body chiefly on the ball of the 
right foot. Return to first position. 

2. From first position advance the right foot six or 
eight inchss to the right oblique, changing the poise as 
before, keeping the ball of left foot firm in position and 
allowing the heel to rise. Then return to first position. 

3. With nearly the same movement, carry the right 
foot directly to the front, and return to position. 

Left Foot Position. — Same relative position of the 
feet, with the left foot in advance. Practice the same 
changes from this as from the right foot position. 

These changes in poise indicate approach or closer 
relations with the audience. They also break the monot- 
ony of attitude and give rest. 

Combine with these exercises in Poise the " Calisthenic 
Gesturings" given further on. 

Steps From Right Foot Position. — 

1. Step to the front, having the left foot follow and 
take the same relative position to the right foot as before 
the step was made. Then return the left to first position, 
bringing back the right to its former place at right angles 
to heel of the left. 

2. In the same way, step to the right oblique, and 
back. 

3. Then directly to the right and back. 

4. Next, to the right backward oblique, allowing the 



left foot to stop in front of the right as in left foot posi- 
tion. 

5. Then make the step directly to the rear in the same 
way as in the last. 

From Left Foot Position, go through similar steps to 
the left. 

Temporary Step. — From each position in each direc- 
tion, practice what may be called the Temporary Step- 
in this step the foot that follows is carried only half the 
distance of the advance, the heel elevated, the inside ball 
of foot touching the floor and the limb relaxed. 

The return is made as in the permanent steps. 

The Combination of the right and left oblique steps is 
made as follows : 

1. From Right Foot Position, step to the right oblique, 
keeping weight of body on the right foot ; then step to 
the left oblique, allowing the weight to settle back on the 
right foot, which is at the rear of the left. Then with the 
left foot thus freed, return with one long step to com- 
mencing position. Make advance steps short (not far- 
ther than you can reach with the toe of the advance foot 
without changing position of the body), then you will be 
able to return easily to first position. 

In speech, steps are not usually taken to get some 
where, but generally to indicate direction. For such 
purposes, short steps are as good as long, and are made 
easier and with more grace. 

The "acting foot," which makes the first movement in 
the advance, falls on the accented syllable of the emphatic 
word in exact time with the completion of the gesture 
which it supplements. The "supportin foot " follows 



J 2 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

without any special significance in the expression, and is 
to the movement what the unaccented syllable is to the 
word. 

Economy or the conservation of power is the great 
need in both physical and vocal expression. The best 
results with the least expenditure of energy should be 
made the chief object in all elocutionary exercise and 
study. The attainment of the easiest way, which is always 
the best way, may require long and intelligent practice. 

Position of Arms at Rest. — 

i. Arms at the Side. Let the arms fall to the sides, 
just where the attraction of gravity takes them. In this 
position, if the upper arm comes in contact with the body, 
the student may know that the muscles of the arm are 
not entirely relaxed. 

This is the most important position of the arms at rest, 
and the one in which they more easily depart from and 
return to in gesture. 

To acquire this art of letting go the arms and hands, 
Calisthenic exercises, i, 2 and 3, [pp. 6 and 7] should 
be practiced long and faithfully. 

Other positions of the arms at rest that may be taken 
occasionally, when admissible, are : 

2. Left Hand on the Hip, elbow thrown well back, 
and right arm by the side, as in the above. 

3. Right Hand on the Breast, with the fingers rest- 
ing between the buttons of the coat or vest, the arm re- 
laxed and lying gracefully against the body, the left arm 
by the side. 

4. For Ladies, instead of the last two, the hands may 
be lapped in front, or the arms lightly folded at waist. 
Either is an easy and graceful position. 



I 3 



5. Arms Folded over the Breast, is a good position 
of the "arms at rest," and may sometimes be employed 
as gesture with great significance. 

The "Calisthenic Gesturings," systematized and arrang- 
ed for practise some years ago, will be found very efficient 
for correcting angularities in gesture, and other faults in 
the movements of the arms. 

They also contribute to the development of grace and 
versatility in gesture, and to the encouragement of spon- 
taniety in physical expression. 

That this system has proved superior to others, in the 
experience of the author and many of his pupils, is owing 
largely to its being founded upon the correct idea of the 
source of gesture, and of the true province and scope of 
the exercises for the attainment of the greatest flexibility 
and freedom of the muscular system. 

It is not assumed that other exercises, having the same 
end in view, might not be given with profit to some ; but 
to the student who has not years to devote to the study 
and practice of physical expression, the exercises given in 
this book will be found quite sufficient. A few things 
well done is generally better than many things half or 
poorly done. 

Before commencing the exercises under Calisthenic 
Gesturings, Calisthenics proper should be practiced as an 
important, if not a necessary preparation. 

Positions and steps should also be mastered, so that 
well-balanced and graceful attitudes may be maintained, 
and ease and grace of movement acquired. 

Initial Movement of the Arm. — Much impor- 
tance is attached to this movement. 



14 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

It forms the commencement of almost every gesture 
made with the arms. It is the beginning of that grace- 
ful unfolding of the arm, which starts at the shoulder, 
passes successively to the elbow and to the wrist and ter- 
minates at the finger-tips. Perfect relaxation of the 
arm, is the first essential in the Initial Movement. 

Then raise the upper arm so that the elbow will be al- 
most horizontal with the shoulder — the fore-arm, hands 
and fingers remaining relaxed. It will be noticed that 
the fore-arm swings toward the front of the body, and that 
the hand curves downward from the wrist. 

From this Initial Movement, but without a pause, the 
arm unfolds in whatever direction the gesture takes. 

This unfolding from the shoulder to the finger-tips may 
be likened to the unwinding of a whip-lash, and the quick 
turn of the hand and fingers at the completion of the 
movement, to the cracker at the end of the lash, giving 
the snap or accent to the gesture. 

This flexible turn of the hand at the wrist is called the 
ictus, and is to the gesture what accent is to the word, or 
emphasis to the sentence. The almost universal law of 
gesture requires the termination or ictus to fall directly 
upon the accented syllable of the emphatic word. 

If it falls but a moment either before or after, the 
force of the gesture is weakened or wholly destroyed. 

To illustrate : Repeat the following climax sentence 
with the degree of earnestness required for its proper ex- 
pression, and have the gestures fall just before the most 
emphatic words as marked (g) and note the effect. 

I tell you, though (g) you, though the whole (g) world, though 
an ANGEL from (g) HEAVEN, were to declare the truth of it, I 
(g) WOULD not believe it. 



1 5 



Give it next with the gestures terminating immediately 
after the emphases, as follows : 

I tell you, though you (g), though the whole WORLD (g), though 
an angel from HEAVEN (g), were to declare the truth of it, I 
would not (g) believe it. 

Now give it with the gestures falling, as they should, 
exactly upon the emphatic words, and mark the increased 
effect. 

I tell you, though you, though the whole world, though an 
angel from HEAVEN, were to declare the truth of it, I would 
not believe it. 

The difference is not only seen, but felt by both speaker 
and hearer. But this law of concentration is so much a 
part of our being, that, where there is harmony between 
mind and body, there is no great danger of going 
wrong. 

Physical and vocal culture are among the best means 
for attaining this intellectual harmony. They will de- 
velop in the speaker an aptness and a disposition to con- 
centrate voice and action upon the most significant ideas. 



INTELLECTUAL BASIS AND SCOPE OF GESTURE. 

Basis. — 

i. Gestures that terminate below the horizontal line, 
are said to be gestures of the Will. Besides expressing 
determination and purpose, they are used to indicate in- 
feriority. 

2. Gestures terminating on the horizontal line, belong to 



1 6 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

the realm of the Intellect. They are usually employed in 
historic and geographic ideas, and in general allusions. 

3. Those that terminate above the horizontal line may 
be regarded as gestures of the Imagination, since they 
usually imply an unfolding and lifting toward the ideal. 

They also denote superiority, freedom, greatness. 

Scope. — 

1. Gestures that terminate to the /t-wz/ are Direct and 
Individual. They indicate that which is near. 

2. Those that terminate to the oblique (a direction half 
way between the front and sides) are General in their 
scope, and are less definite and less emphatic than those 
made to the front. 

3. Gestures that terminate at the sides are inclusive — all- 
embracing; hence, express Universality. 

4. To the backward-oblique, gestures express Past Time, 
or putting in the past. They indicate remoteness and 
obscurity. 

The above should be given a liberal interpretation. It 
may serve as a general, but not always a special guide in 
the study and application of gesture. 

The exercises for practice are arranged under four 
series and four directions. 

The Four Series are the Front, the Oblique, the 
Lateral (sides) and the Backward-oblique. 

The Four Directions are the Descending, the Horizon- 
tal, the Ascending and the Zenith. 

By using the initials of the words representing the 
Series and Directions, we get the following convenient 



GESTURE. 1 7 

Notation of Gesture. — 

i. f., front ; o., oblique ; 1., lateral, and b. o., back- 
ward-oblique. 

2. d., descending ; h., horizontal ; a., ascending ; and 
z., zenith. 

From these we form the following combinations : 

d. f.j descending front. 

h. f., horizontal " 

a. f., ascending " 

z., zenith, (directly overhead). 

d. o., descending oblique. 

h. o., horizontal " 

a. o., ascending " 

d. 1., descending lateral. 

h. 1., horizontal " 

a. 1., ascending " 

d. b. o., descending backward-oblique. 

h. b. o., horizontal " " 

a. b. o., ascending " " 

Additional Notations. — 

r. h., means right hand. 
1. h., left hand. 

b. h., both hands. 

s., supine, (palm of the hand up). 

p., prone, ( " " " down). 

v., vertical, (palm turned outward). 

ind., index hand. 

h. ind., half index hand. 

cli., hand clinched. 

cla., hands clasped. 



1 8 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

cro., hands crossed on breast. 

fol., " and arms folded. 

rep., gesture repeated. 

imp., impulse — gesture repeated from elbow or wrist. 

Still others might be given, but the above will be found 
sufficient for marking exercises and selections for special 
drill. 

It is not advisable to use these notations, nor any of 
the work in gesture, except as helps in discipline — as 
means to ends. 

Explanation of Directions. — To understand the 
" Series," and the directions in which the gestures termi- 
nate, in the exercises given for practice, let the student 
imagine himself standing in the center of a square room, 
twice his height, and facing to the center of one side. 

i. Front Series. Then, directly in front, where the 
floor meets the wall, is d. f.; half way up, h. f. ; where the 
wall meets the ceiling, a. f. ; and the center of the ceil- 
ing, z. 

2. Oblique Series. The right and left lower corners 
of the room is d. o. ; half way up in the corners, h. o. ; 
the upper corners, a. o. ; and overhead, z. 

3. Lateral Series. Where the floor meets the sides of 
the room directly to the right and left is d. 1. ; half way 
up, or the center of the sides, h. 1. ; at the ceiling, a. 1. ; 
and overhead, as before, z. 

4. Backward-oblique Series. The lower backward- 
oblique corners is d. b. o. ; half way up in the corners, h. 
b. o.; the top corners, a. b. o. ; while overhead always 
represents the zenith — z. 



!9 



How to Practice. — Take right foot position. With 
arms at side and perfectly relaxed, carry the arm through 
the Initial movement, letting it unfold in the required 
direction, and terminating with a quick turn of the 
hand at the wrist, with the fingers well extended. Prac- 
tice each series (commencing with the front) and in each 
direction — giving the descending first in the Series. 

Go through each, first with the r. h., then with the 1. h., 
then with b. h., and finally with the right, left and both 
hands alternately. 

In each, repeat three to five times. 

The descending movements are made at about forty- 
five degrees below the horizontal line, and the ascending 
at the same angle above. 

Do not spread the fingers, but let them and the thumb 
retain their most natural position. 

The movements to the zenith (z) will be found the 
. most difficult to execute with grace. Give them thus : 

Commencing with Initial Movement, carry the right 
hand through a double curve represented by an elong- 
ated S reversed, terminating directly overhead, and, as 
in the other movements, with a quick turn of the hand 
at the wrist. 

The left hand is carried through a similar curve repre- 
sented by an elongated S, but not reversed. Then give 
the same with both hands. 

In the last, it will be found that the face is, as it were, 
enclosed in an oval frame by the upper half of each of 
the curves. This idea, though a little far-fetched, will, at 
least, serve as a help to get the required movement. 
These, as well as the other movements in Calisthenic 
Gesturings, are a little exaggerated as gestures, to counter- 
act the too-prevalent tendency toward straight lines. 



20 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

In the "backward oblique Series," there are no "both 
hand " gestures. 

Counting "one" for the right, "two" for the left, and 
" three " for both hands in the practice of exercises 
through the different directions will add precision, and 
help to time the movements when several are practicing 
together. 

After a degree of proficiency is acquired in these exer- 
cises, the following sentences, that call for gestures in each 
of the different directions, may be practiced as a means 
for encouraging application and versatility. 



RIGHT HAND SUPINE. 

Terminate the gestures with the hand well opened, 
the inner edge of the hand inclined a little downward, 
and with the fingers and thumb in their natural positions 
— neither pressed together nor spread apart. A partially 
closed or cramped hand weakens the gesture. 

In the following examples, the words printed in italics^ 
and not indicated with " notations of gesture," are to be 
gestured at the discretion of the pupil. When the nota- 
tion of the "hand " is omitted, the supine (s.) is under- 
stood. 

Front Series — r. h. f.: 

i. See the prize that lies before thee. 

d. 

2. I extend to you the hand of friendship. 

h. imp. 

3. The noonday sun looked down, and saw — not one. 



4- Give me liberty, or give me death. 



Oblique Series — r. h. o.: 
i. Be firm in the cause; 

d. 

2. trust none but friends ; 

h. 

3. let your aims be high ; 

a. 

4. and your watchword, liberty. 



Lateral Series — r. h. 1.: 

1. I acknowledge the charge. 

d. " 

2. Bring in all the evidence you desire ; 

h. 

3. let the light of day shine in upon my deeds ; 

4. for heaven knows I am innocent of crime. 



Backward-oblique Series— r. h. b. o.: 

1. Let the dead Past bury its dead ! 

d -. 
Act — act in the living Present ! 

Heart within, and God o'erhead ! 

2. Free as the torrents are that leao our rocks, and 

h. 

ploiv our valleys, without asking leave. 

3. Look on that narrow stream, a silver thread, high on 

a. Imp. 

the mountain's side. 



2 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

4. Honor the charge they made, 
Honor the Light Brigade, 
Noble six hundred ! 



BOTH HANDS SUPINE. 

Front Series — b. h. f.: 

1. Speak, mother, speak ! lift up thy head. 

d. 

2. What was Caesar, that stood upon the bank of that 
stream ? A traitor, bringing war and pestilence into the 
heart of that country. 

h. 

3. God pity them! God pity them, wherever they 

a. 

may be. 

4. Awake, arise ! or be forever fallen. 

Oblique Series — b. h. o.: 

1. Shall we now contaminate our fingers with base 

d. 

bribes, 

2. And sell the mighty space of our large honors, for 

h. 
so much trash as may be grasped thus? 

3. Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word, 
And in its hollow tones are heard 

The thanks of millions yet to be. 

a. 

4. Arm, arm ! it is — it is the cannon's opening roar. 



GESTURE. 23 

Lateral Series — b. h. 1.: 

1. I wash my /lands of the whole affair. 

d. 

2. And is this all the world has gained by thee, 

h. 

Thou first and last of fields ! king-making victory ? 

3. But one sun lights the day \ 
By night, ten thousand shine. 

a. 

4. Rise, fathers, rise ! 'tis Rome demands your help. 



RIGHT HAND PRONE. 

The primary signification of the Prone Hand is Super- 
position — one thing above another. But in a broader 
sense, it is associated with Repressive Emotion and Un- 
desirableness. 

It is often used in the expression of sadness and grief, 
and sometimes in scorn. The latter, however, generally 
employs the Vertical Hand. The antithesis of the two 
hands, Supine and Prone, might be expressed as follows : 

The Supine Hand permits, the Prone, rejects ; the Su- 
pine impels, the Prone restrains ; the Supine is open, 
frank, genial ; the Prone is aversive, somber, evasive. 

The Prone Hand is less frequently, employed than the 
Supine ; but, to facilitate its use, the same series in Calis- 
thenic Gesturings should be practiced, and with due care 
as to the difference in the turn of the hand at the com- 
pletion of the gesture. In the Supine Hand, the ictus is 
made with the turn of the fingers toward the back of the 



24 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

hand ; in the Prone, the gesture terminates with the turn 
of the fingers toward the palm.. 

Front Series — r. h. p. f.: 

i. Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. 

d. 

2. Stay thy impious hand ! 

h. 

3. Ye gods, withhold your wrath ! 

a. 

Oblique Series — r. h. p. o. : 

1. It was this morning that the sun rose bright upon 
his hopes, — it sets upon his grave. 

d. imp. 

2. Peace, dreamer ! thou hast done well. 

h. 

3. The stars went out, and down the mountain gorge 

a. 

the wind came roaring. 

Lateral Series — r. h. p. L: 

1. The wind died away into a perfect calm. 

d. 

2. And the death-angel flaps his broad wing o^er the 
wave. 

h. 

3. So darkly glows yon thunder-cloud, 

ind. 

That swathes, as with a purple shroud 
Benledi's distant hill. 

ind. 



25 



Backward-oblique Series — r. h. p. b. o.: 

i. But she, 

With the flash of a glance, had shown to me 
The wretch I was, and the self I still 

d. 
Might strive to be. 

2. Away! slight man. 

h. 

3. His voice was heard amid the thunderings of Mount 
Sinai. 



BOTH HANDS PRONE. 

Front Series — b. h. p. f. : 

1. I saw the corse, the mangled corse ! 

d. 

2. On horror's head, horrors accumulate! 

h. 

3. And, having wound their loathsome track to the 
top of this huge, mouldering monument of Rome, hang 
hissing at the nobler man below ! 



Oblique Series : — b. h. p. o. 

1. Sons of dust, in reverence bow ! 

d. 

2. The veil of night came sloivly down. 

h. 

3. Hung be the heavens with black ! 



26 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



Lateral Series : — b. h. p. 1. 

i. When a great and good man dies, the people are 
overwhelmed with grief. 

d. 

2. Sorrow mantles the whole earth. 

h. 

3. Let the triple rainbow rest o'er all the mountain 

tops. 

Besides the Supine and Prone Hands, there are the 
following : 

THE VERTICAL HAND. 

The signification of this Hand is partly embodied in 
the Prone ; but a close analysis of the two shows a 
difference. 

The prone hand puts down, puts under. The vertical 
repels, puts away. 

1. Back, back ! I say ! Face me not, villain. 

v.h. 

2. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 

v. o. a. 

3. Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! 

V. 1. h. 

4. Away, away ! and follow me not ! 

v.b. o.h. 



BOTH HANDS VERTICAL. 

To the front , denotes abhorrent repulsion or fear ; to 
the oblique, the same, but more general — the danger less 



27 



imminent ; to the sides, expansion, disruption, dispersion. 

The preparation for most of the lateral vertical hand 
gestures, is the crossing of the hands over the breast, 
with palms turned outward. 

i. The gate is burst; a ruffian band 

. V. o. h. 

Rush in, and savagely demand, 
With brutal voice and oath profane, 
The startled boy for exile's chain. 

2. Angels and ministers of grace, defend us. 

v.o. a. 

3. Bursts the wild storm of terror and dismay. 

v. 1. h. 



THE INDEX HAND. 

The Index Hand, as its name implies, indicates. 

It not only points out and designates particular per- 
sons and objects, but, analogically, calls attention to par- 
ticular ideas. 

While the Open Hand is used to extend the idea, the 
Index Hand is used to limit it. 

Compare the following : 

1. Let us examine the whole subject before us. 

b. h. o. h. 

2. Now let us look more closely at this particular point. 



THE CLINCHED HAND. 

If we consider Emphasis as consisting of the three 
degrees, — emphasis, special emphasis, and extreme 



28 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

emphasis, — then the Open Hand would denote the first, 
the Index Hand the second, and the Clinched Hand 
the third . The last is employed in very emphatic asser- 
tion, in fierce, denunciation, and in vehement express- 
ion of the more violent passions of the mind. 
i. Let us do, or die ! 

cli. 

2. Thy THREATS, thy MERCIES I DEFY ! 

cli. 

3. You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless 

cli. rep. 

things ! 

Both hands clinched intensifies the expression. 

1. And I'll taunt you with my latest breath, and fight 

r. h. cli. 

you till I die. 

b. h. cli. 

2. I've had wrongs to stir a fever in the blood of age, 
And make the infant's sinews strong as steel. 

b. h. cli. 

3. The strength of brass is in your toughened sinews. 

b. h. cli. 

4. The compassion of an assassin who feels a mo- 

di.; 

mentary shudder as his weapon begins to cut. 

b. h. cli. 



HANDS CLASPED. 

[Fingers interlaced and closed.] 

The Clasped Hands is the language of distress. 
The hands are employed thus in supplication, earnest 
entreaty, agony, and in despair. They are brought to 



the breast, carried up, down, out, or in any direction the 
emotion dictates or impels. 

i. For heaven's sake, Hubert, let me not be bound ! 

cla. f. h. 

2. O, my son Absalom / my son, my son Absalom / 

cla. f. h. imp. 

Would God I had died for thee, O, Absalom, my son, 

cla. f. a. cla. f. h. 

my son ! 

cla. f. d. 

HANDS FOLDED. 



In this the fingers of the right hand are all placed be- 
tween the thumb and fingers of the left, the thumb of 
the right hand crossing that of the left. This position 
of the hands is regarded as expressing humility and 
self-abasement, and is sometimes used in very earnest 
sacred address. 

The Folded Hands may also be used for the same 
purposes as the Clasped Hands. 



WRINGING HANDS. 

The wringing of the hands denotes the deepest despair. 
The movement is often accompanied by writhings of 
the body. 

i. Nor man nor God will heed my shrieks! All's 
lost ! 



3© VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



HANDS CROSSED ON BREAST. 

This is not the folding of the arms, as given in the 
positions of the Arms at Rest. The hands are placed 
flat on the breast — the right hand crossing the left. 
This position of the hands expresses humility, veneration 
and sacred avowal. 

i. For us, and for our tragedy, 
Here stoopi?ig to your clemency, 
We beg your hearing patiently. 

2. In thee, O Lord, do I put i7iy trust. 

3. I acknowledge my transgressions. 



HANDS APPLIED. 

In this, the palms are placed together in front of the 
breast, the extended thumb and fingers of one hand ex- 
actly covering the thumb and fingers of the other, — used 
in prayer and adoration. It is the position of the hands 
given by painters and sculptors to children in the attitude 
of prayer. Hence it is employed to denote the petitions 
of the innocent. 

Under Significant Gestures, will be given other posi- 
tions and uses of the hands. 

The gestures assigned to the right hand may also be 
executed with the left, but the right is always given the 
preference in single gestures. 

The province of the left hand is, first, to designate 



persons or objects situated at the left of the speaker; 
second, to be employed alternately with the right, to de- 
note opposite or contrasted ideas, persons or things ; and 
third,, to be used with the right when both are required 
simultaneously. In regard to direction, the speaker 
should avoid "literal and mechanical exactness." 

" The graces of gesture are simplicity, smoothness 
and variety.'' These depend largely upon the flexibility 
and strength of the muscular system. 

Strength is not incompatible with ease and grace, 
though many exercises of the heavier gymnastics are cal- 
culated to develop strength and hardness of muscle at 
the expense of flexibility. 

"Rigidity of muscle and stiffness of body destroy 
graceful action." 

Preparation for the Gesture, is often of more 
importance than the gesture itself. In grand and lofty 
ideas, the arms move slowly and take a wide sweep. If 
the thought be sharp and passionate, the m6vements of 
the arms are correspondingly straight and angular. 

Carrying the hand gracefully and skillfully from one 
position to another in a series of gestures where each 
preceding gesture is the preparation for the one that fol- 
lows, requires much careful practice before the highest 
excellence can be reached. Each should be appropriate 
to the particular idea it helps to express, and the passage 
from one into the other should be in a natural series, and 
made with as much significance, grace and precision as 
the language will admit. 

There is a peculiar gesture, that may be used in some 
cases with marked effect, called the opening shake. — 
The arm and Index Hand to the front moves, at the 



32 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

elbow and wrist, up and down through a gradually less- 
ening arc, but increasing in rapidity to the conclusion of 
the sentence, and closing with an abrupt and short stroke 
of the whole arm. 

i. Who distinctly and audaciously tells the Irish peo- 
ple that they are not e?ititled to the same privileges as 
Englishmen ? 

" Gesture is that part of Elocution which appeals to 
the eye." Since it relates to Position and Poise, as well 
as to Movement, the positions of the reader and speaker 
should always be in harmony with the character of the 
thought. 

The movements in gesture should be characterized by 
ease and grace, and they should always be made in per- 
fect accord with an untrammeled nature. Particular 
forms of gesture must not be regarded as absolute. As 
in modulation and emphasis, the exact method of ex- 
pression may vary with different speakers, and with the 
different moods of the same speaker. The temperament, 
habits and manerisms of the individual may have much 
to do with the frequency or the infrequency of gesture. 
Those accustomed to gesture too much or shift their po- 
sition too frequently, should be restrained in their action 
until the fault is corrected. A good exercise for this is 
to recite with energy, but without moving the arms or 
changing the position, selections that require consider- 
able gesture. Those inclined to gesture too little should 
enter more fully into the spirit of the recitation, and both 
encourage and create dispositions towards increased 
action. 



33 



MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES. 

In the following sentences, the student should use his 
own judgment as to what is right or best in the way of 
gesture. This will help to encourage and develop an 
intelligent and cultured individuality in physical express- 
ion, that no student of elocution can afford to ignore. 
These, and the other exercises in gesture, will help the 
diligent student to at least an approximate attainment of 
that high ideal in which art becomes nature. Nowhere 
is the old motto "ars celare artem" so applicable as 
in the department of physical expression. The at- 
tainment of "the art to hide the art," is the consum- 
mation of all elocutionary practice. 

i. Up with my banner on the wall, — 
The banquet board prepare ; 
Throw wide the portals of my hall, 
And bring my armor there ! 

2. Then each at once his falchion drew, 
Each on the ground his scabbard threw, 
Each looked to sun, and stream, and plain, 
As what they ne'er might see again ; 
Then foot, and point, and eye opposed, 

In dubious strife they darkly closed. 

3. But yesterday, the word of Caesar might 

Have stood against the world ; now lies he there, 
And none so poor to do him reverence. 

4. I will not do them wrong, I rather choose 

To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you, 
Than I will wrong such honorable men. 



34 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

5. His life was gentle ; and the elements 

So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up, 
And say to all the world, 
" This was a man. 

6. They reeled, shook, staggered back, 
Then turned and fled. 

7. Must I budge? Must I observe you? Must I stand 
and crouch under your testy humor ? 

8. I saw the- breast that had nourished me, trampled 
by the hoof of the war-horse ; the bleeding body of my 
father flung amidst the blazing rafters of our dwelling. 

9. Look on that narrow stream, a silver thread high 
on the mountain's side. Slenderly it winds, but soon is 
swelled by others meeting it, until a torrent, terrible and 
strong, it sweeps to the abyss, where all is ruin. 

10. And so, fellow-gladiators, must you, and so must 
I, die like dogs. 

11. As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 

Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm. 
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are 

spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head. 

12. Liberty unsheathed his sword, necessity stained, 
victory returned it. 

13. Who brands me on the forehead, breaks my sword, 
Or lays the bloody scourge upon my back, 
Wrongs me not half so much as he who shuts 
The gates of honor on me — turning out 

The Roman from his birthright ; and, for what ? 
To fling your offices to every slave ! 



35 



i4- Ye guards of liberty, 

I'm with you once again ! I call to you 
With all my voice ! — I hold my hands to you 
To show they still are free ! 

15. I care not how high his situation, how low his 
character, how contemptible his speech ; whether a privy 
counselor or a parasite, my answer would be a blow ! 

16. One touch to her hand and one word in her ear, — 
When they reached the hall door where the charger 

stood near ; 
So light to the croup the fair lady he swung, — 
So light to the saddle before her he sprung. 

17. Hence from my sight ! Thou Satan, get behind me ! 
Go from my sight ! I hate and I despise thee. 

18. And this man 
Is now become a god ; and Cassius is 

A wretched creature and must bend his body 
If Csesar carelessly but nod to him. 

19. The bride kissed the goblet, the knight took it up; 
He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the 
cup. 

20. He knew me, smiled faintly, gasped and died ; — the 
same sweet smile upon his lips that I had marked, when, 
in adventurous boyhood, we scaled the lofty cliff to pluck 
the first ripe grapes and bear them home in childish tri- 
umph. 

21. If ye are beasts, then stand here like fat oxen, 
waiting for the butcher's knife ! If ye are men, follow 
me ! 



36 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

22. I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, 
Straining upon the start ; — the game's afoot; 
Follow your spirit ; and, upon this charge, 

Cry, Heaven for Harry, England, and St. George ! 

23. Oh, visions of glory ! How dazzling they seem ! 

24. Avert, O God ! the wrath of thy indignation ! • 

25. Flashed all their sabers bare,' 
Flashed as they turned in air, 
Sabering the gunners there, 
Charging an army, while 

All the world wondered ; 
Plunged in the battery smoke, 
Right through the line they broke ; 
Cossack and Russian 
Reeled from the saber stroke 

Shattered and sundered ; 
Then they rode back, but not, 
Not the six hundred. 

Avoid too frequent gesturing. The temperament of 
the speaker, the spirit of the language, and the nature 
of the occasion, must determine the degree of physical 
expression that would be appropriate. 

Avoid too frequent repetitions of the same gesture. 

Do not mistake grimace for facial expression. Facial 
gymnastics may be practiced with profit to make flexible 
the muscles of the face, as exercises in calisthenics for 
the purpose of adding elasticity and grace to the move- 
ments of the body and limbs. But the means must not 
be mistaken for the object and end of the practice. 

The features, as with all the other aids to physical ex- 
pression, must be shaped from within — not from without. 



SIGNIFICANT GESTURES 37 

In true expression, they are prompted by the thought and 
feeling. The attainment of grace, versatility, appropri- 
ateness and spontaneity in gesture should be the student's 
highest endeavor, as it is the crowning excellence in phys- 
ical expression. 



SIGNIFICANT GESTURES. 

Without the hand, no eloquence. — Cressolius. 

Some strange commotion 
Is in his brain ; he bites his lip and starts ; 
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground, 
Then, lays his finger on his temple ; straight 
Springs out into fast gait ; then, stops again, 
Strikes his breast hard ; and anon, he casts 
His eye against the moon ; in most strange postures 
We have seen him set himself,— Shakespeare, 

All gestures are relatively significant, just as all thought 
is relatively emphatic. But what are understood as Sig- 
nificant Gestures, are those actions, movements or mo- 
tions in physical expression that have a common origin 
and an almost universal meaning, They are an inheri- 
tance from the past, — a legacy we will surely bequeath to 
those who follow us. They comprise the "traditional 
stage business " on the theatre of life, to be enacted by 
generations yet unborn. 

Gesture, as already stated, ' : s pantomime language — 
appealing to the eye. The more significant movements 
and attitudes in gesture constitute a universal language 
known and read by all. 

The Egyptians symbolized language by a hand placed 
under a tongue. 



38 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

A forcible or significant gesture often conveys a clearer, 
idea of the thought thus expressed, than the written or 
spoken word representing the thought. The infant, long 
before it knows the meaning of words, interprets the 
meaning of a frown or smile. 

Entire dramas were enacted by the ancients with the aid 
of pantomime alone. These pantomimists were under- 
stood not only by the Romans, but by foreigners as well. 

Roscius challenged Cicero that he could express the 
same idea in more ways by gesture, than the great Roman 
orator could by words. No less true in oratory than in 
drama, is the homely saying, "Actions speak louder than 
words." 

The following are a few of the more important gestures 
regarded as significant. Since they are almost self-ex- 
planatory, the simple enumeration and the brief explana- 
tions given will be found all that is necessary to a clear 
understanding of them. 

The Head. — Quintillian says, "As the head gives the 
crowning grace to the whole body, so does it principally 
contribute to the expression of grace in delivery." 

The poise of the head should be natural — not held 
erect nor allowed to droop. Its normal position in the 
attitude of grace is a slight inclination toward the side 
of the "standing foot." Its movements are suited to the 
character of the thought and emotions, and are made in 
perfect harmony with the other physical expressions. 

The head, to a slight degree, imitates the movements 
of the hands, and indicates the direction of the step. In 
fact, a motion of the head, unaccompanied by any other 
gesture, is considered ungraceful. 



SIGNIFICANT GESTURES. 39 

Shame, Grief and Humility are indicated by the 
hanging down of the head. 

Arrogance and Pride, by its being thrown back and a 
little to one side. 

Firmness and Courage, by holding it in an upright and 
firm position. 

Affirmation and Permission, by the forward nod. 

Negation and Dislike, by the shaking and tossing of 
the head back. 

Languor and Diffidence is implied by the head being 
allowed to droop or incline to one side. 

Dislike and Horror is indicated by the averted head. 

In Attention, the head leans forward ; in Listening, 
the ear is turned to the front. 

The Eyes. — The eyes, with their adjuncts, the eye- 
brows and eyelids, are capable of the most subtle expres- 
sion. Their power and significance are greater than all 
the other features combined. 

"A single look more marks the internal woe, 
Than all the windings of the lengthened 'oh! ' 
Up to the face the quick sensation flies, 
And darts its meaning from the speaking eyes. 
Love, transport, madness, anger, scorn, despair 
And all the passions, all the soul is there." 

The orator and reader who fails to avail himself of the 
help which comes from the look, and the varied emotions, 
which the eye may express, can never feel the electric 
thrill that vibrates between the speaker and hearer. 
Through the sense of sight, we seem to have the power 
of "touching each other at a distance." The eyes should 
be directed to the face of the audience. As a general 



40 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

thing, they precede a gesture, and return immediately to 
the hearer, that the emphasis by voice and action may be 
augmented by the look. 

In reading, the eyes should leave the page as often and 
as long as possible without losing the place. They 
should be trained to gather at a glance, the whole of each 
clause or phrase ; and as often as it is safe, the reader 
should deliver the words looking at the audience. The 
best time to take the eyes from the book, is near the 
close of a sentence. The period pause will enable the 
eyes of the reader to return to the page and catch the be- 
ginning of the next sentence. 

The following are some of the most significant uses of 
the .eyes. 

In Prayer, the eyes are raised. 

In Sorrow, they weep. 

In Anger, they burn. 

Scorn is expressed by the averted eyes when accom- 
panied by the other facial means. 

In Grief or Shame, they are cast down, turned away 
or hidden. 

Doubt and Fear cause the eyes to be cast in various 
directions. 

In Meditation and Thought, they are fixed on va- 
cancy. 

Dr. Austin, in his "Chironomia" says : "As much of the mind is 
discovered by the countenance, and particularly through the win- 
dows of the eyes, so all men examine the countenance and look in- 
to the eyes of those from whom . they have any expectations, or 
with whom they are to have any important intercourse or deal- 
ings. Nay, the very domestic animals learn thus to read the hu- 
man countenance, and the dog is found to look for his surest and 
most intelligible instructions into his master's eyes." 

Notwithstanding the late Francois Delsarte contended that the 



SIGNIFICANT GESTURES. 4 1 

eyes themselves, apart from any of the other features, do not ex- 
press the emotions, but only indicate the direction of the objects 
that excite the emotions, yet all the other great masters of the Art 
of Expression hold views on this subject antagonizing those of the 
great French teacher. 

Scientists, too, like Chas. Darwin, regard Delsarte as^in error 
on this point. 

The Arms and the Hands. — The significance of 
the Arms and Hands is more marked, and their use of 
more frequent occurrence than that of all the other 
means for physical expression combined. Especially is 
this true in Oratory. 

Besides the more general uses of the arms and hands 
heretofore given in the exercises for drill, the following 
are what elocutionists regard as especially significant in 
in the expression of certain emotions. 

Pain or Distress is indicated by placing or pressing 
the hand upon the head. 

Shame or Sorrow, upon the eyes. 

Silence, upon the lips. 

An Appeal to Conscience or a Declaration of Love, by 
placing the hand on the breast over the heart. 

Deep Affliction and Mental or Physical Distress is 
expressed by both hands pressed in the same position. 

In Joy the hand is waved. 

In Dislike and Contempt, flourished. 

In Friendship, the arms are extended, and sometimes 
received. 

The fingers of the right hand placed in the palm of the 
left, denotes fixing a point, — used in argument. 

Carried from the lips outward means throwing a kiss. 
This movement also signifies a giving out or sending 
forth words in cordiality and candor. 



42 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The Body. — The body in its different attitudes and 
positions expresses different emotions and conditions of 
the mind, and thus has its significance in the communi- 
cation of thought. 

Resolution and Courage holds the body erect. 

Pride throws it back. 

Condescension and Compassion takes a stooping 
posture. 

Reverence and Respect is denoted by a bending of 
the body. 

Polite recognition, by bowing. 

Great Humility and Abasement, by utter prostration. 

The Lower Limbs. — Obstinacy and Bravery are indi- 
cated by the firmness of the lower limbs. 

Desire and Courage, by the attitude or act of advanc- 
ing. 

Timidity and Weakness, by the bended knees or un~ 
steadiness of the limbs. 

In Dislike and Fear, they shrink and retire. 

In Terror, they start. 

In Authority and Anger, they stamp. 

In Submission and Prayer, they kneel. 

Imitative Gestures may sometimes be employed with 
good effect in graphic description and in comic styles. 

The foregoing exercises and instructions in Physical 
Expression, comprise but a portion of this great depart- 
ment of Elocution ; but what are given are fundamental, 
and will be found more than ample for the limited time 
which the student of elocution generally deems practica- 
ble to devote to this branch of the subject. 



ORGANS OF SPEECH. 43 



ORGANS OF SPEECH. 

The study of Elocution presumes some knowledge of 
the Organs of Speech. Certainly the cultivation and 
preservation of the voice cannot be so well and so surely 
effected without such a knowledge, as it can with it. 
And for the correction of faults in breathing, in the pro- 
duction of tone, and in articulation, it is not only 
important, but essential, that a knowledge of the 
organs of speech be possessed by those who wish 
to correct such faults in themselves or in others.. 

The Organs of Speech comprise the Breathing Organs, 
which furnish and control the breath ; the Vocal Organs, 
which convert the breath into tone, and which give to 
voice its various characteristics, such as fullness, 
resonancy, purity and other qualities ; and the Articula- 
tor Organs that manufacture the tone and breath into 
articulate elements of speech. 

The Breathing Organs. — Of the muscles and 
organs that furnish and control the breath, the follow- 
ing are the most important : 

1. The Diaphragm, a muscle separating the viscera 
from the lung cavity. It forms the floor of the chest 
and the roof of the viscera. 

2. The Abdominal Muscles, extending across the 
abdomen and the waist in front. 

3. The Costal, and Intercostal Muscles (from costa, 
a rib), which are attached to the ribs, and in conjunction 
with the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm, aid in 



*4 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

the elevation and depression of the short ribs. This 
movement is most noticeable in the panting of the tired 
horse. 

4. The Pectoral Muscles, so called from their extend- 
ing over the pectus or chest. 

5. The Thorax, or the cavity, containing the lungs. 

6. The Lungs, with their numerous air-cells and tubes 
all connected and terminating in two tubes — one from 
each lung, called, 

7. The Bronchi, which also join, forming the large 
tube known as, 

8. The Trachea or Wind-pipe. 

The Vocal Organs. — The Vocal Organs comprise 
the Larynx or Voice Box, and the Resonance Chambers. 

The Larynx is situated at the top of the trachea, and 
consists principally of the following parts : 

i. The Thyroid Cartilage, composed of two parts, 
called allce, or wings, which are joined together in front, 
and form the prominence known as Adam^s Apple. 
Below this and connecting it to the trachea is, 

2. The Cricoid Cartilage, so called from its resem- 
bling a seal ring — the seal or large portion extending 
backward, forming the base of the larynx and the founda- 
tion for the attachment of, 

3. The Two Arytenoid or Pyramid Cartilages, which 
are movable upon their bases, and are employed in 
approximating or bringing together, 

4. The two Vocal Ligaments, which are also called 
"vocal chords," but more properly, " vocal bands." 



ORGANS OF SPEECH. 45 

The Vocal Ligaments are thin, semi-circular mem- 
branes, with straight, firm, elastic edges, that approach 
each other when tone is to be produced.. The outer 
circular edges are attached to the inside of the larynx. 

The anterior or front ends of their straight edges are 
fastened at a common point near the base of the 
Larynx ; the posterior end of each is attached to the 
apex of an Arytenoid Cartilage. 

By the movement of these " pyramid " cartilages upon 
their bases, the vocal bands are adjusted so as to form a 
small narrow opening through which the breath passes, 
and in passing causes the edges of the bands to vibrate. 
The vibrations produce tone or voice. 

The pitch of the tone depends chiefly upon the tension 
of the bands ; and the loudness, upon the strength of 
their vibrations ; while the fullness, resonancy and volume 
of the voice depends upon the size and passivity of the 
resonance chambers, the freedom and elasticity of the 
vocal ligaments, and the pressure of the supporting air- 
column, and especially upon the "passive-activity," (a 
carelessly-careful condition), of all the parts employed in 
the production of tone. 

5. The Glottis. Properly, this is the opening between 
the vocal bands, but the entrance to the larynx, or its en- 
tire cavity, is more commonly known by this name. 

The rim of the glottis forms the upper border of the 
larynx, the entrance to which is guarded by, 

6. The Epiglottis. This is a tongue-shaped cartilage 
that shuts upon the rim of the glottis whenever we swal- 
low, thus closing the passage-way to the lungs and pre- 
venting strangulation. It is attached to a U shaped 
bone (the os hjoides), to which the tongue is also joined. 



46 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The hyoid is " a floating bone," not forming a part of 
the skeleton, and is chiefly employed in keeping the 
parts at the base of the tongue in place. 

The ordinary condition of the Epiglottis is a position 
in which it rests against the base of the tongue, allow- 
ing free inhalation and exhalation of the air in its pas- 
sage to and from the lungs through the glottis. It is like 
a trap-door held open by springs that must be pulled 
upon to be closed. 

In the act of swallowing it shuts from the front back- 
ward, allowing the food and saliva to pass safely over the 
top of the larynx into the oesophagus or " gullet." This 
act is also accompanied by an elevation of the uvula and 
soft palate, thus closing the entrance to the nasal passage 
and preventing food from passing in that direction. 

Though a useful sentinel, keeping guard over the glottis, 
in the production of tone the Epiglottis is often a mis- 
chievous meddler. Any contraction of the muscles about 
the base of the tongue, or those of the jaw or neck, is apt 
to contract the muscles that control the action of the 
epiglottis, causing it partially to close the entrance of the 
larynx. This has the effect of producing the throaty tone 
so often heard in uncultivated voices. In fact, it is one 
of the most common faults in the production of tone. 
This contraction of the throat is commonly caused by ner- 
vousness, embarrassment, or undue excitement or haste 
on the part of the speaker. The habit of cramping the 
throat is often thus formed until it becomes a "second 
nature," — very difficult to break up. 

Hence, an avoidance of any contraction about the 
throat, is the first essential condition in the proper pro- 
duction of tone either for speaking or singing. 

The other vocal organs are, 



ORGANS OF SPEECH. 47 

The Resonance Chambers, comprising, 

1. The Trachea, a hollow tube below the larynx; 

2. The cavity within the larynx ; 

3. The Pharynx or back mouth ; 

4. The Mouth proper ; 

5. The Vestibule of the nose ; and, 

6. The Nasal cavities. 

The walls that enclose all these variously shaped cham- 
bers have a delictae ' lining called the mucous membrane, 
the healthy condition of which has much to do with clear- 
ness and other qualities of voice. 

It is within these several cavities that the tone produc- 
ed by the vibration of the vocal bands is resounded, add- 
ing much to the various characteristics an'd qualities of 
of the voice, such as fullness, volume, resonancy, etc. 

The Resonance Chambers serve the same purpose to 
the vocal ligaments, that the body of the violin does to 
the violin strings, or the tube of the clarionet to the tongue 
of that instrument. There would be but little loudness 
or character produced by the vibration of the violin strings 
detatched from the instrument, whatever might be their 
tension or however great their agitation. It is owing to 
their position on the body of the violin and the manner 
of their connection, that the attuned strings of that won- 
derful instrument are enabled to give forth the sweetest 
sounds that human mechanism can execute, sounds that 
almost vie with those produced by that still more won- 
derful instrument — that divine mechanism — the human 



Organs of Articulation. — The Articulatory organs 
are all situated above the larynx. They comprise, 



48 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

i. The Hard Palate, or roof of the mouth ; 

2. The Soft Palate, forming, with the Uvula, a pendant 
veil or curtain at the passage-way between the mouth and 
pharynx ; 

3. The Tongue : 

4. The Teeth; 

5. The Lips ; and, 

6. The Walls of the Nose. 

These are the parts that manufacture, out of the tone 
and breath, articulate elements of speech. 

Thus, for example, the element represented by b, is 
made by obstructing the tone with the compressed lips ; 
m, by diverting the sound thus formed into the nasal ca- 
vities, and /, by the sudden separation of the compressed 
lips, causing a percussive explosion of the breath. By a 
similar manipulation of tone and breath, with the tip of 
the tongue pressed against the upper gum of the front 
teeth, the articulate elements, represented by d, n, and t 
are produced. So with the back surface of the tongue, 
brought in contact with the soft palate in the back part 
of the mouth, the elements symbolized by g, (hard), ng 
(as in ring) and k, are articulated in like manner. 

Other explanations of the action and uses of the organs 
of speech will be given under the respective heads of 
Breathing, Voice Culture, and Articulation. 

Since the limitation of knowledge upon any subject of 
science is inversely to the amount of investigation and 
study given to the subject, it is to be hoped that the stu- 
dent of elocution will not confine his knowledge of the 
Anatomy of the organs of speech to the brief descriptions 
and explanations given in this manual, but that the little 
here given will induce him to study the subject as treated 



BREATHING EXERCISES. 49 

in the large anatomical books and charts, and also to avail 
himself of the use of the laryngoscope, by means of which 
the vocal bands may be seen in action. 



BREATHING EXERCISES. 

The proper development and control of the Breathing 
Organs, and the correct use of the breath in the ■ produc- 
tion of tone, are the first and most essential conditions 
to success in the study and practice of Elocution. 

No substantial progress can be assured the student 
who does not give early and special attention to the exer- 
cises in Breathing. 

Breath is the chief source of power. It is the "lumber- 
yard of the orator " — the rough material out of which 
speech is manufactured. 

But it is not so much the amount of breath that is de- 
sirable, as the manner in which it is used. Here, econ- 
omy is better than quality. Nothing will so soon bank- 
rupt a voice, as prodigality of breath. 

CALISTHENIC BREATHINGS. 

Success in the control of breath depends largely upon 
the strength and flexibility of the muscles of the waist, 
particularly the abdominal muscles. What is known as 
Abdominal or Waist Breathing, is regarded by the best 
voice culturists and physiologists, as the only correct and 
normal method. The canary in its cage, the cat on the 



50 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

rug, the babe in the cradle, and the red-man in his na- 
tive wilds, all teach us that the abdominal breathing is 
nature's method. If you are uncertain what this is, 
practice the following breathing exercises and notice 
what takes place at the waist in front : — 

First, empty the lungs. Then slowly and continuously 
sip in the air between the partially compressed lips, until 
the lungs are well filled. You will observe an expansion, 
or pressing forward at the waist. Then, let out the 
breath through the compressed lips, as slowly and gently 
as it was taken in. You will now notice the abdominal 
muscles relaxing and gradually giving way. This action 
is essential to correct breathing. The diaphragm, 
or floor of the lung cavity is lowered during the process 
of the inhalation of the breath, and raised in the exhalation. 
The exercise given above may be practiced with great 
benefit in the following manner. 

Blowing and Sipping the Breath. — With the 
hands on the hips, elbows and shoulders well back, and 
fingers placed upon the abdominal muscles, first 
empty the lungs by> blowing the air steadily and 
forcibly through a quill tooth-pick, or any other small 
tube, held tightly between the lips. Then fill the lungs 
by sipping the air in through the quill with as much 
force as you can. This is one of the very best exercises 
for strengthening the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. 

Full and Deep Breathing. — With hands in the 
same position, first exhaust the lungs, pressing the 
fingers tightly upon the waist in front, and stooping 
forward a little ; then, while straightening up, fill the 
lungs slowly, taking in the breath through the nos- 
trils, until every air-cell is filled. Retain the breath 



BREATHING EXERCISES. 5 I 

a short time, and as slowly exhale it. This may be re- . 
peated several times. While retaining the breath, it is a 
good practice to pat the chest, waist and sides, by a 
quick and flexible stroke with the flat of the fingers. If 
any of the breathing exercises produce dizziness, stop 
and rest, and then try again. 

The Same With Audible Expulsion. — A good 
variation of the above exercise, is to expel the breath 
audibly, allowing it to impinge on the walls of the 
throat, or, more particularly, on the rim of the glottis. 
Practice with different degrees of force. 

Deep Breathing While Walking may be practiced 
with great profit in the following manner : With the 
hands resting on the muscles of the waist, expel the 
breath while walking, say, five steps ; keep the lungs 
empty during another five ; inflate them during five more, 
and retain the breath while walking another five steps ; 
making one inhalation and one exhalation for every 
twenty steps. This exercise may be repeated several 
times daily. 

Many other calisthenic breathing exercises might be 
given, but these will be found sufficient. Great impor- 
tance is attached to emptying the hmgs first in all of the 
foregoing exercises, that the waist muscles may take their 
proper action in the inhalation. Remember that the 
muscles at the waist contract in expelling the breath, and 
expand in taking it in. 

The breathing organs may be compared to the old- 
fashioned fire-bellows. The wind-pipe is the nozzle, the 
chest, the body of the bellows, and the abdominal and 
other muscles of the waist, the handles. Now, in work- 



52 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

ing the fire-bellows, you would not take hold of the body, 
but the handles. So the human bellows should be 
worked, not by the muscles of the upper chest, but by 
those of the waist — the handles. 

If the habit of breathing through the nostrils be not 
already formed, establish it at once. Nothing is so det- 
rimental to the throat and lungs as habitual breathing 
through the mouth. The nose is nature's filter. In it 
the atmosphere is warmed, and the dust and other im- 
purities strained from the air in its passage to the lungs, 
thus preventing many throat and lung troubles. Pro- 
fessor Tyndall says that if he could leave the world a 
legacy, he would embody it in the words, "Keep your 
mouth shut." Catlin, the great English physiologist 
says, "Shut your mouth and save your life." If you 
find that you sleep with your mouth open, practice clos- 
ing it tightly upon retiring, and keep it closed as long 
as consciousness remains. This will soon break up one 
of the worst habits of which you can be guilty. 

ELOCUTIONARY BREATHINGS. 

In speech the breath is utilized in its passage from the 
lungs. However important the correct inhalation of the 
breath may be in elocution, its exhalation is of still 
greater concern, as quality and control of voic depend 
most largely upon the manner in which the breach is 
managed in its passage from the lungs. Particular at- 
tention should therefore be given to the follow- 
ing exercises. There are three ways of letting out the 
breath in speech — the effusive, the expulsive, and the ex- 
plosive. 



BREATHING EXERCISES. 53 

Effusive Breathing. — Inflate the lungs as directed 
in the calisthenic breathing exercises. Then, with the 
hands on the hips and fingers pressing gently on the mus- 
cles of the waist at the sides in front, and with mouth 
well but gently opened, slowly let out the breath, as soft 
and as long as possible, making such a sound as is heard 
in a seashe'll held to the ear. When this sound flows out 
smoothly, it shows that the student has full control of the 
breathing. But if the breath be rough or jerky, careful 
and continued practice will be necessary to correct the 
fault. Vary the exercise by intoning o on the notes of 
the musical scale, as soft, smooth and long as possible. 
This is a good practice for the development of purity of 
tone. 

Expulsive Breathing. — Inflate the lungs, then, by a 
forcible, but steady contraction of the abdominal muscles, 
shove out the breath, giving the sound of the aspirate h. 
Practice this several times, but discontinue if it makes 
you dizzy. Vary the exercise by giving "who," in a 
forcible whisper, (taking breath after each word), thus : 
who, who, who. Then whisper the first two, and voice 
the last, thus: who, who, who. Next whisper the first 
and speak the last two, thus : who, who, who. Lastly 
speak all three with the same action as that used in giving 
the whisper : who, who, who. Do not try to give the 
words in a pure tone of voice; let them be "breathy." It 
is not a vocal, but a breathing exercise. 

Next give the long vowels i and o each several times, 
in a full, resonant and affirmative tone. 

As an application of Expulsive Breathing in speech, 
practice the following sentence, with the same resonance 
and fullness of voice with which the vowels were given. 
"Rise, fathers, rise! 'tis rome demands your help." 



54 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Explosive Breathing. —Take a full deep breath, and 
with a strong and sudden contraction of the abdominal 
muscles, give the aspirate h in an explosive whisper. 
Then in the same manner the syllable hoo (po as in foot) 
thus: hoo, hoo, hoo. Vary this practice as with "who" 
in the preceeding exercise, thus : hoo, hoo, hoo ; hoo, hoo, 
hoo ; hoo, hoo, hoo. The following, given in a forcible 
whisper, is a good practice, and one of the best for strength- 
ening the lungs : flow far/ how sad! — exhausting the lungs 
on far and sad. It is tiresome and should not be practiced 
long at a time. Then give the same words in a forcible 
half whisper, or aspirated tone. Next give the vowels a, e 
and ow with great force and abruptness. Then embody 
them in the following words, giving the words with the 
proper degree of force, and with the required expression, 
thus : Thou slave ! thou wretch ! thou COWARD ! 



VOICE CULTURE. 55 



VOICE CULTURE. 

Give me its varying music, the flow of its free modulation. 

* * * * * * * ^ ^t -- * * •*• 

* * Our organ can speak with its many and wonderful voices. 
Play on the soft lute of love, blow the loud trumpet of war, 
Sing with the high sesquialtro, or, drawing its full diapason, 
Shake all the air with the grand storm of its pedals and stops. 

— W. W. Story. 

A good voice is essential to good elocution. A poor 
voice may be made good, and a good voice still better, or 
even excellent, by proper culture. Were the possibilities 
of voice improvement adequately appreciated, more at- 
tention would be given to this department by students 
and teachers of elocution. Instead of being the most 
neglected branch, it would come to be the most import- 
ant. 

James E. Murdoch, teacher, author and actor, says : 
"In an experience extending over forty years, I have 
been brought to the conviction that voice culture is what 
is most needed in the study of elocution." And it is 
the experience of every other teacher and student who 
has given the subject that close and careful attention 
which it deserves. 

No substantial progress in the cultivation of the voice can 
be made until a practical knowledge of the production of 
tone be acquired. This presumes a proper degree of 
strength, flexibility and control of the muscles of the waist. 
What is known as the abdominal or diaphragmatic breath- 
ing is Nature's method for the inhalation and exhalation 
of the breath, and is the one in which the air-column is 
best sustained and controlled in its passage through the 
larynx. 



56 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The first and most essential requirement for the correct 
production of tone, is a condition of relaxation and free- 
dom about the throat. All effort must be transferred 
from the throat to the muscles of breathing. The con- 
trolling consciousness should be to speak through the 
throat, and not with it. By doing so the sound will then 
"lay hold of the throat " and not the throat hold of the 
sound, as is too often the case. The relaxation of the 
museles about the throat — especially those of the jaw and 
epiglottis — will render impossible that "throaty voice," so 
disastrous to good speaking, and which is as painful to 
the hearer as it is hurtful to the speaker. 

This, as well as most of the other faults in the produc- 
tion of tone, may be corrected, and a pure, resonant and 
agreeable voice developed by an intelligent and patient 
practice in right methods. 

While all the exercises given under articulation, modu- 
lation and expression will be helpful for the culture and 
development of the voice, the following are specially ad- 
apted to that purpose, and will be found particularly 
beneficial for correcting the worst faults in the produc- 
tion of tone. 

These suggestions and directions are as important to 
the student of singing as to the student of elocution, and 
the exercises which follow will be found as valuable to 
the one as to the other. 

A short practice in full, deep breathing should precede 
each vocal exercise. 

Since the use of certain terms cannot be avoided in 
the explanation of exercises in voice culture, it becomes 
necessary to define them here. 



VOICE CULTURE. 57 

Time relates to duration. Its elements are Quantity^ 
Movement and Pause. 

Quantity relates to the duration of voice upon an ele 
ment, syllable or word. 

Movement, to the degree of rapidity with which the 
words are uttered. It includes 

Pause, which refers to the suspension of the voice be- 
tween words, sentences and paragraphs. 

Quality relates to kind of voice. There are two kinds- 
— Pure and Impure. 

In Pure quality, all the breath emitted in the produc- 
tion of tone is vocalized. 

In impure quality, the tone is more or less mixed 
with unvocalized breath. 

Pure quality may be subdivided into, 

i. Simple Pure, used in cheerful conversation and in 
light styles of reading and speaking ; and, 

2. Orotund, a full, round and resonant tone, employed 
in expressing grand thoughts, deep feelings, and holy 
emotions, — such as sublimity, courage, veneration, rever- 
ence and awe. 

Impure quality comprises, 

i. The Aspirate or WmspeR, in which there is little 
or no vocality. It is used to denote secrecy and caution, 
and is employed in horror and fear. 

2. The Pectoral or "Chest Tone," which reverber- 
ates in the larynx and trachea. It is given on the lower 
notes of the voice, and is employed in solemnity and to 



58 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

denote the supernatural. Anger, scorn and despair, in 
their milder forms, also employ this kind of voice. 

3. The Guttural quality, which is a very harsh and 
throaty tone. It is most significant in revenge, and is 
employed in intense anger, scorn and rage. 

Various combinations of the above are employed in 
mixed emotions, and are frequently designated by such 
names as aspirated pectoral, asp. orotund, asp. guttural, 
pectoral orotund, asp. pect. orotund, etc., but their desig- 
nation is generally more perplexing than useful, and their 
consideration should be relegated to the larger treatises 
on elocution. 

Pitch relates to the degree of elevation or depression 
of the voice. 

In music, it refers to the particular place in the scale 
on which tone is sounded. 

In elocution it relates to the general or prevailing pitch 
in speech. In voice, pitch depends upon the number of 
vibrations made by the vocal ligaments in their production 
of tone. The number of vibrations increases with the 
pitch, doubling with each octave. 

An Octave comprises five whole and two half tones, 
and includes seven notes known by the syllables do, re, 
me, fa, sol, la, si, and the repetition of the first {do), com- 
pleting the octave. 

PRODUCTION OF TONE. 

Pure Tone. — 1. Prolong in the musical voice in as 
soft and pure a tone as possible. Commence on " C," 
or on any note in about the middle pitch, prolonging the 



VOICE CULTURE. 59 

sound with the same degree of loudness on each note 
within an easy compass of the voice, and at the same 
time intently listening to the tone produced that you may 
detect any imperfection in its quality. This will educate 
the ear as well as the voice, an important matter, as that 
organ gives us the highest standard, and at the same time 
is the only practical guide as to quality, pitch and movement. 
In this exercise, never force the voice into a higher or lower 
pitch than it can easily reach, and always keep the tone pure, 
smooth and agreeable. "Whenever the voice breaks into a 
rough, aspirated, throaty or other disagreeable quality, stop at 
once ; then let go the muscles of the throat, drop the jaw, let 
the tongue lie flat and perfectly relaxed, take a comforta- 
ble breath, and begin again. 

2. In a pure and resonant voice, give ah on the same 
notes as in the above exercise. Let each tone be preced- 
ed by a full breath taken in by the expansion of the ab- 
dominal muscles. Commence gently, gradually in- 
crease the sound to the middle, and as gradually diminish 
it to a delicate finish. Remember to control the voice 
by the muscles of breathing, and not with the throat, 
and have the increase and diminish of the tone equal. 

In all these exercises for the improvement of the voice, it 
should be the constant aim of the student to transfer the 
effort from the throat to the waist — from the organs of vo- 
cality to the organs of breathing. If possible, let him 
forget he has a throat, thinking only of the correct action 
of the abdominal muscles and of the quality of the tone 
produced. The tone should always be pure and reso- 
nant, and the action of the waist-muscles gentle and yet 
firm, gradually increasing in their contraction with the 
demand for increased fullness and loudness. 



60 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

3. Vary the above exercise by shoving out the voice 
with energy on the first part of the sound, and letting it 
gradually diminish to a close. 

Instead of "ah," give the seven monophthong vowels 
in the order found in the Table of Elementary Sounds. 
Commence on middle "C," as in the exercises just given, 
and run to the " C " above, giving each succeeding 
vowel on a higher pitch, thus : e, a, a, ah, aw, 0, 
00, e. A repetition of "<f" is necessary to complete the 
octave. Then run from middle "C" down to "G," as 
e, a, a, ah — and return on the other vowels, {aw, 0, 00,) 
back to "C." 

5. From " C," (or from any note about the middle 
pitch,) down, chant on each note in a full and resonant 
voice and with as distinct an articulation as possible the 
following sentence : 

HOW HOLLOW GROANS THE EARTH BENEATH MY 
TREAD ! 

The following is also a good sentence for similar prac- 
tice : 

HOW THE WILD WAVES ROLL ! 

6. From " C " up, chant the following two stanzas 
from the "Psalm of Life," giving the lines on successive 
notes in a very distinct and recitative manner. 

"C " Tell me not in mournful numbers, 
" D " Life is but an empty dream ! 

" E " For the soul is dead that slumbers, 
" F " And things are not what they seem. 

"G" Life is real ! Life is earnest ! 
" A " And the grave is not its goal : 



VOICE CULTURE. 6 1 

"B" "Dust thou art to dust returnest," 

" C " Was not spoken of the soul. 

7. Tennyson's " Bugle Song" makes an interesting and 
profitable exercise when practiced in the following man- 
ner : 

Give the first four lines of each stanza on the same 
notes and in the same way in which the first stanza of 
the " Psalm of Life " was given. Use only these words 
of the chorus, — "Blow, bugle,'blow !" — givingthem as fol- 
lows : Blow (G), bu (E) -gle (C), blow (G) — prolonging 
the "ow" on the slide down the octave to " G" below, 
and then back to " C " in one continuous sound and 
breath. 

In the second stanza, the first few words should be 
given short {staccato), and the whole in a more or 1 ess 
subdued voice. 

The Bugle Song. 
I. 
The splendor falls on castle walls 

And snowy summits old in story ; 
The long light shakes across the lakes, 
And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, 
Blow, bugle ; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 

II. 

O hark, O hear ! how thin and clear, 

And thinner, clearer, farther going ! 
O sweet and far from cliff and scar 
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing ! 
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying: 
Blow, bugle ; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 



62 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



III. 

O love, they die in yon rich sky, 

They faint on hill or field or river : 
Our echoes roll from soul to soul, 
And grow forever and forever. 
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, 
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying. 

8. Exercises in the " glottis stroke " will be found the 
very best for developing clearness, vivacity and strength 
of voice. Though the term " glottis stroke " be a mis- 
nomer, it is understood to mean that strong and abrupt 
action of the vocal ligaments, produced by the quick 
and sudden breaking through of the compressed air-col- 
umn. It is this that gives to speaking and singing a 
sprightliness and sparkle that is best appreciated by 
contrasting it with its opposite — the drawl. Let the vocal 
exercises in the "glottis stroke" be preceded by a short 
and abrupt whisper of the syllable il hu" — "u" as in 
"up" This breathing exercise is called "puffing the 
breath." Puff the syllable hu three times, then pause 
and replenish the lungs ; again, three times, pause and 
replenish the lungs, and so continue. If dizziness ensues, 
rest awhile. Practice until the lungs can be replenished 
in the shortest possible time. 

Then vocalize the same syllable in a clear, ringing and 
abrupt tone on each note of the octave from " mid- 
dle C " up, and then down to " G below," — giving it 
" three times three," as follows : (Breathe) \u, hu, hu, — 
(breathe) hu, hu, hu, — (breathe) hu, hu, hu — u — u — u, — 
prolonging the tone on the last syllable in a full and res- 
onant voice. Other syllables may be used as well as hu. 



VOICE CULTURE. 63 

9. After practicing the above for some time, the follow- 
ing is a good variation. 

Instead of giving the last syllable in the repetition in a 
continuous or a gradually diminishing tone, give it with 
three prolonged impulses — that is, in "the swell," using 
the syllable ho instead of hu, thus : Ho, ho, ho; ho, ho, ho; 

It may be found necessary to take a short breath 
just before the. last syllable. As in all the vocal exer- 
cises, keep the throat free, and control the voice by the 
action of the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles. 

10. "Projecting the tone" is an exercise that will 
help increase the penetrating and carrying capacity of 
the voice. It may be practiced as follows : 

In giving the syllables in the " glottis stroke/' as in 
the preceding exercises, aim at some object in the most 
distant part of a room or hall, and at a point on a level 
with the head, and imagine the tone being sent directly 
to the object aimed at, being sure to hit the mark every 
time. 

11. Calling or hailing to some one at a distance in 
the open air, on a high pitch and in a free and pure tone, 
is also an excellent practice. For example, give the fol- 
lowing "nautical hail " in as high a pitch and with as 
much force as can be maintained in a clear, untram- 
meled voice, taking a good breath just before the word 
ahoy, and holding the last syllable (hoy) as long and in 



64 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

as pure a tone as possible, thus : Boat Aho-o-o-o-o-o- 
o-o- 
o- 
o- 

OY- 
Y. 

closing with an octave slide/ as indicated. 

12. For the development of flexibility of voice, the 
exercise given below will be found one of the best : Give 
the syllable ah in a full, pure and resonant tone on the 
musical scale, running the voice in "circles," as follows : 

Commence on a moderately low note — anywhere from 
"middle C" down to "G" — and slide the voice up to 
the second note and down again, and up and down sev- 
eral times, in a continuous tone. Then slide to the third 
note up and around in the same way, and so on until 
the eighth note in the octave is reached. 

A good variation is to sing the whole octave with one 
breath, running to each of the. notes up and down once, 
in a continuous tone, until the eighth note is reached, 
and always keeping the key-note as the commencing 
and ending of each circle or double slide. 

A good opening of the mouth, flexibility of the tongue 
and lips, and the correct manipulation of all the parts 
necessary for the formation of the elements of speech, are 
requirements so essential that their lack will forestall the 
progress of the student, however favorable to success the 
other conditions may be. 

The first essential to good reading and speaking, is to 
be heard and understood. This presumes a free exit of 
the voice, the proper formation of the elements, and a 
correct combination of them into syllables and words. 



VOICE CULTURE. 65 

The following exercises for the mouth, tongue and lips 
will be found an excellent preparation for the work in 
articulation. 





ahL 



With a little exaggeration of the three vocals, in the first tri- 
angle, they are made to represent the three extreme posi- 
tions of the mouth and lips; "<?", with the corners' of the 
mouth drawn well back, (as in laughter); "ah", with the 
mouth thrown wide open and the lips drawn over the 
teeth ; and " 00," with the lips thrown well forward — pro- 
truded as much as possible. In the second triangle, the 
aspirates, "/", "/" " k ", given with force, abrubtness and 
with the least expenditure of breath possible, represent very 
important manipulations of the tongue and lips. The fol- 
lowing is an excellent way to practice the above: In the 
first, give the vowels twice in each direction and in the 
different series, thus: 1st, e, ah, 00, e, ah, 00; e, 00, ah, e, 
00, ah. 2d, ah, e, 00, ah, e, 00; ah, 00, e, ah, 00, e. 3d, 00, e 
ah, 00, e, ah; 00, ah, e, 00, ah, e. Give the extreme posi- 
tions of the mouth and lips, as directed above. Practice 
slowly at first, and increase the rapidity from day to day 
as you increase in skill. 

The order of practice in the second triangle should be 
the same as in the first. Be careful to get the snap to 
the p, t, and k, and without wasting the breath. After a 



66 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

little practice, drop the short vocal i\ giving the aspirates 
alone. From time to time increase the rapidity when you 
can do so with the same degree of accuracy as when prac- 
ticing them more slowly. 

The p, t and k, more than any of the other elements, are 
the vehicles of contempt and hate. When given with 
great force and precision in certain words that frequently 
occur in impassioned utterance, they become a mighty 
power in expression. The following sentences, given 
with the required force and with the proper emotions, 
may serve as illustrations, and also be used as examples 
for practice. 

i. Back to thy punishment, false fugitive ! 

2. Go from my sight/ I hate and despise thee ! 

3. Do not hate, do not despise/ But pity, O pity me ! 

Many other profitable exercises might be given, 
but a description of ' them, without illustrative 
cuts, would be of little use to the student. A prac- 
tical knowledge of the different qualities of tone 
and the skill of modulating the voice so as to meet the 
varied requirements in the expression of thought and 
feeling, is an art that cannot be successfully imparted by 
means of type alone. In these particulars, the text-book 
must be supplemented by the voice of the teacher to insure 
the best results. However, the student will find great 
profit in the faithful practice of the foregoing exercises, 
which comprise a portion of the system of voice culture 
used by the author — a system containing the best results 
of his long experience and careful study. 



ARTICULATION. 6 7 



ARTICULATION. 



Raftered by firm-laid consonants, windowed by opening vowels, 
Thou securely art built, free to the sun and the air. 

Not by corruption rotted, nor slowly by ages degraded, 
Have the sharp consonants gone crumbling away from our words. 
Virgin and clear is their edge, like granite blocks chiseled by Egypt ; 
Tust as when Shakespeare and Milton laid them in glorious verse." 

—W. W. Story. 



Articulation includes exercises upon the Elementary 
Sounds, separately or in combination, and embraces 
analysis, syllabication, accent and pronunciation. 

A good articulation consists in giving to each element 
its due amount of sound, so that the syllables and words 
will " drop from the lips like newly-made coin from the 
mint, accurately impressed, perfectly finished, correct in 
value, and of the proper weight." The exercises under 
this department of elocution are especially intended for 
the develop7?ient and culture of the organs of articulation. 
There is no better nor surer way for improving the artic- 
ulation, than that of exercising the voice and articulatory 
organs on the elements of speech, singly and ijn their easy 
and difficult combinations. 

Next to a good voice, a distinct and correct enuncia- 
tion is the essential qualification in a reader or speaker. 
No person, however eloquent, can be fully appreciated 
unless he is distinctly heard and well understood. 

Although the exercises in articulation may seem te- 
dious, no student of elocution can afford to slight them. 



68 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Properly and persistently practiced, they will not onl) 
correct faults, and even impediments, . in speech, 
but will make a good articulation better, and a better 
excellent. Exercises upon the elements of the language, 
in analysis, in the formation of syllables, and in pronun- 
ciation, may be called the "dead work" of elocution, 
but it is just as necessary to be done as the dead work 
in mining, in order to reach the golden ore-vein of suc- 
cess that lies beneath. No other department of elocution 
so fully verifies the oft-quoted proverb, that there is no 
excellence without great labor. 

An exact classification of the elements composing syl- 
lables and words is impossible. The formation of the 
elements proceeds in a more or less regular series from 
the most open vocal sound as heard in ah, to the 
closest aspirates or mutes, represented by p, t and k. 

For purposes of instruction and "practice, the following 
classifications are sufficiently accurate. 

The first division of the elementary sounds of the En- 
glish language is as follows : 

i. Vocals, which consist of pure tone ; 

2. Sub-vocals, consisting of tone and breath united; 

3. Aspirates, composed of breath only. 

These may be termed the three links in the Odd Fel- 
lowship of speech, the sub-vocals uniting the two extremes, 
vocals and aspirates. This is the natural division of the 
elements, and is common to all languages. 

The Vocals are subdivided as follows : 

1. Long Monophthongs, in which each has the same 
sound from its commencement to its close ; 

2. Diphthongs, or Double Vowels, formed, as the 
name indicates, by the combination of two monoph- 
thongs ; 



ARTICULATION. 69 

3. Short Vocals, differing from the monophthongs only 
in duration. 

The sub-vocals are divided into, 

1. Correlatives, because each terminates with a light 
sound of its cognate aspirate ; 

2. Nasals, so called from the sound being made res- 
onant in the nose ; 

3. Liquids, because of their flowing sound, are specially 
dependent upon the tongue, and are the most vocal of 
the consonants ; and, 

4. Coalescents, so designated from the perfect man- 
ner of their combining with the vowels which they always 
precede. 

The Aspirates are naturally brought under the two sig- 
nificant classes of, 

1. Explodents, which are made by a percussive action 
of the breath ; and, 

2. Continuants, from their having the quality of con- 
tinuance or prolongation. 

The vocals are formative, the subvocals and aspirates, 
articulative elements. The formation of the different 
vocals depends chiefly upon the size and shape of the 
tube through which the tone passes. 

Thus, the changes in the mouth parts, from e to ah, 
and ah to oo, give, successively, the long monophthongs 
in the order found in the table below. 

The subvocals and aspirates are made by different 
junctures of the organs of articulation which obstruct or 
modify the tone and breath. 

The following arrangement of the elements will be 
found the most convenient for practice, whether the vo- 
cals be given singly, or in combination with the subvocals 
and the aspirates. 



70 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 



TABLE I. 



Long Monophthongs. — 

i. e ? as in eve, each, e'en, brief, seem. 

2. & 5 " age, ate, make, wave, play. 

3. R ? " air, dare, wear, lair, stare. 

4. H 9 " arm, palm, far, father, half. 

5. aw ; " awl, law, ball, straw, fall. 

6. o ? " ore, own, home, mold, no. 

7. 0© ? " ooze, whom, root, woo, soon. 

Diphthongs. — 

8. i 5 as in ire, file, time, life, shine. 

9. oi (oy), as in oil, oyster, toil, boy, voice. 

10. oil (ow), as in our, owl, flour, mouse, out. 

11. 11 ? " (y)use, assume, flue, lute, Tuesday. 

Short Vocals. — 

12. i ? as in it, bin, fix, miff, quick. 

13. e ? " ebb, met, peck, left, fed. 

14. e ? " earth, earn, were, fern, herd. 

15. a ? " at, rap, cab, lad, back. 

16. a ? " ask, pass, fast, dance, grass. 

17. ? " odd, job, yonder, rock, cross. 

18. u ? " up, rough, sum, muff, hut. 

19. OO. " hoop, wolf, shook, hood, foot. 



ARTICULATION. 



71 



SUBVOCALS. 

Correlatives . — 

20. t>, as in barb, curb, bulb, web, sob. 

deed, dude, made, goad, bade, 
gag, rug, lag, give, gauge, 
judge, jet, jam, cage, seige. 
valve, vim, vale, live, wave. 
thither, thine, breathe, scythe, 
zone, zigzag, whizz, maze, size, 
azure, treasure, leisure, vision, usual. 



as in maim, me, come, room, home, 
nine, now, never, lane, on. 
ding-dong, bang, singing, slung. 

Liquids. — 

31. 1, as in lull, shall, lily, toll, bell. 

32. r (rough), as in run, roll, drum, trill, roar. 

33. r (smooth), " war, car, clear, fair, were. 



2 I. 


d, 


22. 


Sj 


23- 


j(dzh), ■ 


24. 


T, 


25- 


th, 


26. 


z, 


2 7- 


xii, 


asa 
28. 


7 s. — 
III, as 


29. 


n 5 


30. 


H^ ? 



Coalescents. — 


34- 


W 5 


35- 


>5 


Explo dents. — 


36. 
37- 
38. 




39- 


ch (tsh) 



as in we, wire, wait, was, won. 
" yew, yawl, your, yellow, yes. 



as in peep, putty, spite, spurn, stop. 

" tight, hat, teeth, hate, tear. 

" kick, whack, kite, luck, wreck. 
), " church, charm, fetch, touch, wretch. 



Continuants. 




40. 


f 5 


as ir 


41. 


th, 


a 


42. 


S, 


« 


43- 


Sh, 


" 


44. 


h ? 


a 


45- 


wh. 


(hw), 



72 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



as in fief, fife, cough, staff, life. 

thick, thumb, thirst, mouth, breath, 
sense, pass, miss, seem, hiss, 
shame, pshaw, lash, bush, hush, 
hence, hie, ho, howl, here, 
as in which, why, when, where. 

The Dipthongs are each formed by the union of a 
short and long monophthong element as follows : 
(i) 5 bv the union of 16, and 1. 

(Pi), " " 17, " 1. 

(011)5 " " 16, " 7. 

(11), " " 12, " 7. 

It will be noticed that the first element in each com- 
bination is abrupt and short, and that the last is long and 
obscure. 

Combinations of Elements. 

In the practice of Tables II. and IV., following, — 

1. Prolong the monophthong and diphthong vocals in 
the combinations, in a full, smooth and musical voice, — 
first in the " monotone " and then in the " swell," and 
each in three degrees of pitch — the middle, high and low. 
Practice first down the columns and then across. 

The prolongation of the vowel in the monotore may 
be indicated thus : Be-e-e-e-e, ba-a-a-a-a, &c. ; and in the 
swell thus : 

Be — E — e, ba — A — a, &c. 

2. Give the same combinations in the speaking voice 
in a full, resonant and affirmative tone — running the 
voice down to the lowest note of its compass. Pronounce 
the syllables in a free and natural manner, such as would 



ARTICULATION. 7 3 

be used in an earnest but dignified reply to an unwelcome 
question. 

3. Then give the syllables alternately in the rising and 
falling slides, as in asking and answering a question, in 
a very earnest manner, letting the voice slide from near- 
ly the lowest to the highest pitch of its compass in the 
question, and from nearly the highest to the lowest 'in the 
answer. In order to be sure of the right inflection, it 
may be necessary for some to give the syllables first in 
connection with such words as " did you say " and "no, 
I said," thus: Did you say be? No, I said ba. 

After sufficient practice, drop the " Did you say," and 
"Yes, I said," giving the syllables above in the same 
manner as when using the words. 

The exercise may be varied by giving both inflections 
continuously on the same syllable. 

4. An excellent practice involving many of the ele- 
ments of vocal expression, such as pitch, force, stress, 
climax, transition, inflection, &c, is the following : 

Commence on a low pitch and in subdued force, and 
give each syllable with the falling slide, increasing the 
pitch and force to " boo," and hold this on the slide into 
a low pitch ; then, after a marked pause, give the last four 
combinations in the monotone, in long quantity, in a low- 
er pitch and on the descending scale, making the ca- 
dence-slide on the syllable " bu," thus : 
boo 
bo 
baw 
ba bi 

ba boi 

ba bow 

be bu 



74 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The interest and profit of the above exercise may be 
much enhanced by giving the syllables forming the cli- 
max series with increasing earnestness, and then adding 
an expression of solemnity to the syllables given in the 
monotone. 

5. In combining the subvocals and aspirates with the 
short vocals, give the latter with percussive force in a 
clear and ringing sound. 

In the practice of Tables III. and V. bring out the 
subvocals and aspirates very distinctly. 

A good practice, but a difficult exercise, is to give the 
subvocals, in the combinations, with both the rising and 
the falling slides. 

All the tables of combinations below should he prac- 
ticed until thoroughly mastered. 



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76 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



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DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 79 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 



The following comprise the greater part of the more 
difficult combinations of elements occurring in the Eng- 
lish language. 

The "faced letters' 1 represent the combinations, and 
should be practiced as follows : Give each element with 
special distinctness three times, separately in succession 
three times, and then in combination three times. 

Then pronounce each word in the line three times, 
giving prominence to the elements of the difficult combi- 
nation. The words may be given, first in the monotone, 
then with the falling slide. 

The italicised words in the sentences should be given 
very distinctly, but not necessarily with greater loudness. 
The italics are not used in this exercise to denote em- 
phasis, but to call attention to the words containing the 
difficult combinations. 

No exercise in articulation is more profitable than this, 
if properly and faithfully practiced. 

!>cl. — orb'd, sobb'd, ebb'd, prob'd. 

The child moaned and sobbed itself to a 
gentle sleep. 
foclst. — prob'dst, stabb'dst, fib'dst, snubb'dst. 

Thou snubb'dst and stabb'dst him to the 
quick. 
1)1. —blow, bubble, blue, trebble, blaze. 
I bubble into eddying bays, 
I babble on the pebbles. 



80 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

folz. — pebbles, gabbles, roubles, stubbles. 

His troubles followed fast in the footsteps of 
his foibles. 

blst. — humbl'st, nibbl'st, babbl'st, troubPst. 

Hence ! thou troubVst me with vain requests, 

bid. — disabPd, trembl'd, doubl'd, dissembl'd. 
'Tis but the fabVd landscape of a lay. 

bldst. — stumbl'dst, disabl'dst, nibbl'dst, gabbl'dst. 

TrembVdst thou at what was but the shad- 
ow of a ghost? 

br. — breeze, brought, bridge, breath, bride. 
Break, break, brtak, 
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea ! 

bz. — robs, webs, fibs, rubs, robes, sobs. 

Beneath the Cyprus boughs the wind sobs a 
sad requiem o'er his grave. 

bst. — rob'st, snubb'st, bobb'st, fibb'st. 

ProVst thou the wound of a broken heart ? 

dl. — candle, kindle, waddle, meddle. 

The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more. 

did. — saddl'd, coddl'd, riddl'd, muddl'd. 

A single look, his smouldering hate kindVd 
to a rage. 

didst. — addl'dst, peddl'dst, fiddl'dst, waddl'dst. 

Thou fondVdst the viper which stings thee 
to death. 

dlz. — bundles, handles, trundles, meddles. 

What a great fire a little blaze kindles. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 8 1 

dlst. — saddl'st, peddl'st. fiddl'st, kindPst. 

Bird of the sun, in thy upward flight thou 
dwindVst to a speck. 

dll. — sadd'n, gladd'n, sodd'n, ridd'n, gard'n. 

Silent and sudden within the gard'n the 
lightning's flash revealed the enveloping dark- 
ness. 

dlld. — sadd'nd, wid'nd, broad'nd, madd'nd. 

Madd'nd with drink, he did a deed a life of 
love could not undo. 

dliz. — burd'ns, hard'ns, sadd'ns, ward'ns, madd'ns. 
Bear ye one another's burdens. 

dr. — dread, dream, drink, drawl, meand'ring. 

Hear ye the deep dreadful thunder, peal 
on peal, afar ! 

dst. — didst, hadst, mad'st, add'st, could'st. 

When thou didst hate him worst, thou 

lov'dst him better 
Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius. 

dtli. — breadth, width. 

The width or breadth equals the length. 

dtliS. — widths, breadths. 

Three widths of one made four breadths of 
the other. 
dz. — adz, buds, wads, leads, loads. 

Buds, birds, fields and woods, are country 
charms that cheer the heart. 
dzh. — wedge, badge, judge, pledge, fudge. 

"Pledge with wine, — pledge with wine," 
cried the thoughtless Harvey Wood. 



82 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

dzlifl. — pledg'd, forg'd, manag'd, smudg'd, gaug'd. 

Evil habits forg'd the fetters he could never 
break. 

fl. — flay, ruffle, flow, fling, flutter, trifle. 

At every trifle^ scorn to take offence. 
fid.— -rifl'd, baffl'd, shuffl'd, sniffl'd, waffl'd. 

The muffVd drum told the time had come 
For the hero to lay down his life. 
fldst. — stifl'dst, baffid'st, ruffld'st, trifl'dst. 

Thou baffld'st in vain, the cause we'll main- 
tain, 
For our country, for truth and for God. 
flz. — raffl's, muffl's, waffl's, truffl's, whiftTs. 
Trifl's trouble more than double 
What we greater griefs can bear. 
fist. — tritfl'st, baffl'st, shuffl'st, ruffl'st. 

If thou stiff? st thy conscience, the whip of 
remorse will lash thee back to obedience. 
fn. — soft'n, sliff'n, rough'n, oft'n. 

Kind words will offn pluck the barb from 
envy's arrow, and soffn the obdurate heart. 
fuel. — deaf'n'd, stiff'n'd, soft'n'd, rough'n'd. 

The loud winds soft rid to a whisper low. 
flia. — soft'ns, deaf'ns, stiff'ns, rough'ns. 

Prosperity deafns the ear to pity's call. 
fir. — free, fright, from, freckle, fresh. 

Francis French was too much frightened to 
offer assistance, 
fs. — chiefs, laughs, puffs, whiffs, nymphs. 
He laughs best who laughs last. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 83 

fsf. — scoff'st, puff st, miff'st, cough'st, stuff'st. 

Laugh' st thou, Lochiel, my^vision to scorn ? 

ft. — reft, soft, waft, tuft, left. 

Waft, waft, ye winds, His story. . 

ftlftS. — fifths, twelfths. Two-fifths and three-twelfths 
make thirty-nine sixtieths. 

fts. — lifts, wafts, shifts, crafts, tufts. 

Death lifts the veil that hides a brighter 
sphere. 

ftst. — lift'st, waft'st. O'er the desert drear thou 
waft'st thy waste perfume. 

gd. — rigg'd, leagu'd, begg'd, flogg'd. 

The little ant lugg'd and tuggd its tiny load 
o'er many a straw and stone. 
gflst. — fagg'dst, flogg'dst, begg'dst, lugg'dst, 

Laggard, why lugg'dst thou thy load, and 
why lagg'dst thou behind? 
gl. — gleam, glide, eagle, glove, bugle. 

Mid the glisten and glamour of glory 
Rejoice if thou humble canst keep. 
gld.— juggl'd, haggl'd, struggl'd. 

He was inveigVd into a trap bated with a 
bribe. 
gldst. — mingl'dst, strangl'dst, singl'dst. 

Why smuggl'dst thou that which was thy 
bane? 
g'Iz. — eagl's, struggl's, haggl's, juggl's. 

At the bugl's shrill blast the eagl's took 
flight. 



84 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

gist. — struggl'st, haggl'st, mingl'st. 

Thou haggl'st over a penny as if it were a 
pound. 

gT. — great, grow, growl, grizzly, grub. 

The Grey Riesling is a grape grown for 
wine. 

gz. — gigs, flogs, dregs, bugs, logs. 

In rags he tugs and lugs the bags, nor lags 
till he has filled the brig's hold. 

gst.— wagg'st, begg'st, digg'st, flogg'st.- 

Thou begg'st in vain, no pity melts his 
heart. 

kl. — click, cling, buckle, cliff, truckle. 

Klingle, klangle,klingle, far down the dusky 

dingle, 
The cows come slowly home. 

kid. — circl'd, twinkl'd, buckl'd, sparkl'd. 

He buckl'd them fast to his shoulder and 
hip. 

kldst. — twinkl'dst, sparkl'dst, sprinkl'dst. 

Thou shackl'dst the arm that would strike 
the blow for freedom. 

klz. — knuckl's, circl's, sparkl's, truckl's. 

The eye twinkl's the joy that thrills the soul, 
and it flashes the hate that holds the heart 
in thrall. 

klst. — buckl'st, freckl'st. encircl'st. 

Thou tackPst more than thy match when 
thou tickl'st me. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 85 

kll. — black'n, deac'n, tok'n, falc'n. 

The licit n clings to the broltn rocks on the 
bleak and desolate shore. 

klld. — black'n'd, wak'n'd, dark'n'd. 

He await rt d from a delusive dream that 
drove him to despair 

Itlldst. — heark'n'dst, lik'n'dst, black'n'dst. 

Thou beck'ttdstme the way I should go. 

kllZ. — dark'ns, thick'ns, falc'ns, tok'ns. 

He left me tok'ns of lasting friendship, 

kll*t. — wak'n'st, heark'n'st, beck'n'st. 

Thou aw alt it st within me a warmer sym- 
pathy. 

kr. — chromo, chronicle, crank, crisp. 

Whv crouch and crawl like a crafty ser- 
pent. 

k*. — stake's, stick's, lock's, croak's. 

Ye mouldering relics of departed years. 

list. — shak'st, look'st, wak'st, next. 

And many a holy text around she strews. 

kt. — sect, walk'd, rock'd, work'd. 

He track d the game to the cavern lair, 
But lacftd the courage to enter there. 

kts. — respects, acts, sects, subjects, facts. 

It gilds all objects, but it alters none. 

kt*t. — work*dst, thank'dst, lik'dst, act'st, mock'st. 

Thou acfst the manly part when thou 
mocltdst not at facts. 



86 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Ifo.— Albert, filbert, bulb, Elbe, Alb. 

The river Elbe glides smoothly o'er its peb- 
bly bed. 
lbs. — Albs, bulbs. The gladiolus bulbs root and 
bloom with the warmth of early spring. 
Id. — toil'd, toll'd, gild, gold, guild. 

The youth's wild and melancholy look told 
what aiVd him. 
Idz. — wilds, folds, fields, builds, molds. 

The rising sun gilds the mountain tops. 
Idst. — wield'st, fill'dst, hold'st, shield'st, told'st. 
Wield' st thou thy sword for liberty ? 
If.— pelf, wolf, elf, gulf, self. 

You wronged yourself to write in such a 
case. 
If 8. — sylphs, elfs, gulfs, Guelphs, delfs. 

The sylph's cavern and the wolfs cave are 
side by side. 
1ft. — engulf'd, ingulf'd. The fated ship is engulf d 
by the angry waves. 
1ft li. — twelfth, twelfths. Twelve twelfths and a 
twelfth equals one and one twelfth. 
ldzll'd.-bilg'd, indulg'd, bulg'd. 

He indulg'd his wit and lost his friend. 
Ik. — milk, bulk, elk, sulk, bilk. 

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of 
each purple curtain. 
Iks. — silks, elks, whelks, bilks. 

He was whipped till whelks rose criss- 
crossed upon his ebony back. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 87 

lkst.— sulk'st, milk'st. Thou miWst the kine at 
early dawn. 
llit. — milk'd, mulct. He will mulct the poor man 

of his life-long earnings. 
lm. — elm, film, helm, realm. 

Up with the helm and pull for your lives. 
Intel. — whelm 'd, film'd. He overwhelm 'd me with his 

kindness. 
llllS. — films, elms, realms, overwhelms. 

He sought for rest in realms beyond the 
skies. 
lllist. — overwhelm'st, film'st. Thou overwhelm 'st 
them with the whirlwind. 
« In. — stol'n, fall'n, swoll'n. 

A stol'n kiss the mother pressed on baby's 
cheek. 
lp. — help, pulp, whelp. 

The gods help those who help themselves. 
Ips. — Alps, pulps, whelps, helps. 

The fearless, faithful guide helps the trav- 
eler up the Alps. 
lpst. — scalp'st, help'st. Thou helfst me now in vain. 
lptst. — help'dst, holp'dst, scalp'dsf 

Thou scalp'dst the scalper of his ill-gotten 
gains. 
Is. — pulse, else, dulse, false. 

Joy quickens the pulse, but sadness retards 
it. 
1st. — filFst, rul'st, fall'st, dwelPst. 

Thou filVst existence with thyself alone. 



88 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

It. — wilt, dwelt, moult, guilt. 

We try this quarrel, hilt to hilt. 

th.— stealth, filth, wealth. 

Wealth does not always bring happiness and 
health. 

It lis. — tilths, healths. He drank our healths from the 
crystal spring. 

Its. — halts, melts, faults, bolts. 

A friendly eye could never see such faults. 

ltst.— bolt'st, melt'st, halt'st, stilt'st. 

Thou meltst with pity at another's woes. 

lv. — delve, solve, valve, shelve. 

Resolve to live a life that will not shame thy 
friends. 

Ivd. — envolv'd, shelv'd, resolv'd. 

The miner delv'd for the hidden ore. 
lvs. — elves, wolves, valves, shelves. 

Man resolves, and re-resolves, then dies the 
same. 
lvst. — dissolv'st, involv'st, solv'st. 

Thou involv'st the firm, and then dissolv'st 
the partnership. 
lz. — pulls, steals, palls, tolls, calls. 

Old age steals upon us unawares. 

Ill fist. — flam'dst, bloom 'dst, illum'dst, nam'dst. 

Thou doom'dst thy lover to a life of misery. 
mfs. — lymphs, triumphs, nymphs. 

The nymphs in triumph dance in festive 
glee. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 89 

Hip*. — dumps, damps, lamps, bumps, limps. 

He stamps his mind upon the lettered page. 

mpst. — limpst, thumpst, stampst. 

Thou dampst their zeal and stampst defeat 
upon their cause. 

mz. — seems, psalms, gems, comes, tomes. 

Seems, madam ! nay 'tis ; I know not seems. 

111*1. — dream'st, tam'st, seem'st, doom'st. 

Thou seem'st to be an angel of light. 

lilt. — contempt, prompt, stamp'd. 
Be prompt on duty's call. 

mtst. — tempt'st, prompt'st, stamp'd'st. 

Thou prompfst the warrior to a deed of 
fame. 

nd. — plann'd, plan'd, end, mind, sound. 

With heart and hand together stand as a 
firm, united band. 

ndz. — bonds, blends, sands, finds, bounds. 
Fate binds him with iron bands. 

ndst. — send'st, ground'st, moan'd'st, tim'd'st. 

Thou found' st me an enemy, thou leavest 
me a friend. 

ng. — singing, longing, swinging, ringing. 

Ding-dong dell ! exulting, trembling swell 
the bells. 

ngdst.— wing'dst, hang'dst, twang'dst, wrong'dst. 

Thou wrong'dst me to think I had aught 
against thee. 



90 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Ilg'Z, — sings, songs, wings, lungs, fangs. 

The Angel of Peace scatters blessings from 
her dewy wings. 

ligst. — hang'st, long'st, bring'st, bang'st. 

. Thou bring'st me good tidings from over 
the sea. 

llg*tll§. -length, lengths, strength, strengths. 

Short views we take, nor see the lengths be- 
hind. 

Ilgks. — links, franks, sinks, danks, bunks. 

My father ! methinks I see my father. 

ngkst.-think'st, thank'st, wink'st. 

Oh, deeper than thou think 'st, I have read 
thy heart. 

ngkt. — thank'd, cincture, blank'd, flunk'd. 

They rank'd me below my merits. 

nglits. -adjuncts, precincts. 

He left the warm precincts of the cheerful 
day. 

Ildzll. — plunge, hinge, flange, range. 

Possessions vanish and opinions change. 

ndzlftd. -plung'd, chang'd, reveng'd, fring'd. 

If you would be reveng'd on your enemies, 
let your life be blameless. 

IIS.— dance, bounce, mince, tense, lance. 

In search of wit, some lose all common 
sense. 

n$t. — against, canst, fencd, winc'd. 

Thou canst not ? and a king ! 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 9 1 

lit* It. — lunch, bench, flinch, launch. 

Flinch not from duty, though the task be 
hard._ 
Iltsht. — blanch'd, lunch'd, trench'd, stanch'd. 

He wrenched the chain, tho' all in vain, 
For the firm links held him fast, 
lit .-plant, tent, fount, sent, blunt. 

He went to the mint to see money made, 
not spent. 
lltllS. — months, tenths, hyacinths, plinths. 

Hyacinths bloom in the months of spring. 
lit*. — tents, wants, events, plants, flints. 

Man wants but little here below, nor wants 
that little long. 
lltst. — hunt'st, want'st, taunt'st. 

Hunfst thou the wild gazelle? 
HZ e — plains, moons, moans, lens, vanes. 

Though slow of reward, merit wins in the 
end. 

pi. — pluck, plod, plumes, ample, ripple. 

The plowman homeward plods his weary 
way. 
pld. — trampl'd, tippl'd toppl ; d, dappl'd. 

The dimpled cheek of the child wore an an- 
gel's smile. 
pldst. — rippl'dst, peopl'dst, rumpFdst. 

Thou trampVdst the worm that harmed thee 
not. 
plz. — mapl's, appl's, toppl's, stippl's, stapl's. 

Age on their temples shed her silver frost. 



92 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

plst. — trampl'st, rippl'st, sampl'st, toppl'st, tippl'st 
Thou sampVst the tap, and then toppVst to 
thy miserable home. 

pild. — rip'n'd, op'n'd, deep'n'd, happ'n'd, sharp'n'd. 
Within this peaceful valley the golden rip- 
ples of the rip'rid grain make glad the heart 
of the peasant. 

pilS. — op'ns, happ'ns, rip'ns, cheap'ns. 

The combat deepens, — on, ye brave ! 

pr. — pride, proper, prune, print, prey. 

Prompt to relieve, the prisoner sings his 
praise. 

p§. — tips, tops, props, tapes, mops. 

Thought droops and stops as the eyes grow 
heavy with sleep. 

pst* — top'st, prop'st, heap'st, shap'st, hoop'st. 

Thou slapplst the child thou should'st have 
kissed. 
pt. — wept, slipp'd, stop'd, supp'd, stopp'd. 
The little one wept itself to sleep. 
pts. — intercepts, accepts, precepts.- 

The father's precepts, the dutiful son obeyed. 
ptst. — hop'd'st, accept'st, intercept'st. 

Accept st thou the commission offered thee? 
pths. — depths. From the depths of despair, the sor- 
rowing soul is lifted on the wings of love. 

rl>. — herb, verb, orb, curb, garb. 

Curb thy tongue, for its barVd words stick 
where they strike. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 93 

rbd. — orb'd, curb'd, garb'd, disturb'd. 

No reveille disturbed his slumbers ; for he 
slept the sleep of death. 
rbclst. — barb'dst, orb'dst, curb'dst, disturb'dst. 

Thou curb'dst well the gallant steed thou 
strod'st. 
l*t>Z. — barbs, verbs, orbs, disturbs. 

The orbs of night in the winter's sky shine 
clear and bright. 
rbst. — absorb'st, barb'st, curb'st, disturb'st. 

Thou absorb'st our precious time by trivial 
talk. 
rdz. — words, birds, cards, chords, herbs. 

The silver cords of friendship' may unite 
many hearts which the golden cords of love 
dare not entwine. 
rdst. — reward'st, herd'st, sjuard'st. 

Thou regard' st whom thou reward'st. 
rfs. — serfs, dwarfs, turfs, scarfs. 

Dwarfs and pygmies shall to giants rise. 
rgz. — bergs, icebergs, burgs. 

The icebergs float from the Arctic seas. 
rdzh. — surge, forge, enlarge, gorge, emerge. 

From out the gorge sweeps the wild tor- 
rent to the verge of the precipice. 
rdzlld. — urg'd, charg'd, merg'd, forg'd. 

So they beat against the State House, 
So they surged against the door. 
rks. — barks, corks, works, larks, storks. 

He marks ihe tracks of the wounded by the 
crimson trails in the snow. 



94 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

rkst* — mark'st, work'st, bark'st, cork'st. 

Mar&stXhou the spot where the hero died? 
rkt. — work'd, mark'd, lurk'd, fork'd, jerk'd. 

He work'd his way to the topmost round of 
the ladder of fame. 
rktst. — bark'dst, work'dst, fork'dst; lurk'dst. 

Thou lurk'dst round our haunts like a mer- 
cenary spy. 
rid. — curl'd, snarl'd, whirl'd, furl'd, world. 

Round the chieftain's head the war-cloud 
curl'd. 
rldsf • — -hurl'dst, snarl'dst, furl'dst, whirl'dst. 

Thou furl'dst thy sails in the harbor of bliss, 
1'ldz. — worlds. Worlds unseen, the eye of faith ex- 
plores. 
Flz. — hurls, pearls, snarls, twirls, churls. 

The glittering pearls of the sea are not to 
be compared with the priceless pearls of 
thought. 
Filld. — arm'd, charm'd, form'd, harm'd, 

Arm'd say you? Arm'd, my lord. 

rilldsf. — form'dst, storm'dst, charm'dst, worm'dst. 

Thou charm'dst the maid whose ear was 
not proof against flattery's wiles. 

rniZ. — charms, forms, storms, terms. 

Truth storms the citadel of falsehood, and 
accepts no terms but unconditional surrender. 

mist. — form'st, charm'st, storm'st, alarm'st. 

Thou charm'st me with thy silver-tongued 
speech. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATOINS. 95 

1-111 til* — warmth. 

What warmth of feeling is in thy golden 
words. 
I'iicl. — scorn'd, earn'd, burn'd, warn'd. 

We were warn'd of our danger in time to 
escape, 
rildst.— burnd'st, turnd'st, scorn'd'st, warn'dst, learn'dst. 
Thou learn'dst thy lesson well, though thou 
scorn 'dst to confess it. 
1*11 Z. — spurns, darns, morns, mourns, urns. 

As the sun sets, the leaden cloud turns to 
burnished gold. 
l'ps. — carps, warps, sharps, thorps, harps. 

We hanged our harps upon the willows. 
l*|>t.— - warp'd, usurp'd, harp'd. 

Wealth usurp'd the throne where intellect 
long had ruled. 
rs, — scarce, purse, fierce, source, farce. 

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy. 
l>ll. — marsh, Kershaw, harsh. 

Kershaw's island is in San Francisco Bay. 
l*st. — verst, vers'd, pars'd, first, cours'd. 

The Russian treads his weary versts o'er 
fields of snow. 
PSts. — thirsts, worst's, bursts. 

A flood of glory bursts from all the skies. 
rts. — marts, hurts, courts, parts, flirts. 

All are but parts of one stupendous whole. 
rtst. — smarts't, hurts't, parts't, girt'st, report'st. 

O jealousy, thou parfst the hearts that 
should be ours. 



96 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

l'tll. — worth, north, forth, birth, hearth. 

From north and from south they came forth 
to defend their hearths and homes. 
rtllS. — earths, worths, hearths, births, fourths. 

The earth's productiveness is in excess of 
possible consumption. 
rtsll.— arch, perch, porch, search, larch. 

Slowly the bright procession went down the 
gleaming arch, 

And my soul discerned the music of the 
long triumphant march. 
Ftsllt. — march'd search'd, parch'd, perch'd. 

Pygmies are pygmies still, though per elf d 
on Alps. 
TV. — serve, carve, nerve, starve, swerve. 

He who has the nerve never to swerve from 
duty, may carve his name high up on the pin- 
nacle of fame. 
FVd. — preserv'd, nerv'd' starv'd, carv'd. 

Had I but served my God with half the 

zeal 
I served my king, he would not in mine age 
Have left me naked to mine enemies. 
FVdsf . — curv'dst, swerv'dst, carv'dst, preserv'dst. 

Thou preserv'dst me from mine enemies. 
FVZ. — nerves, starves, swerves. 

The fool serves his body, but starves his 
mind. 

FVSt. — curv'st, carv'st, preserv'st. 

Thou serv'st me well, thou nerv'st my arm 
for the fight. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 97 

rz. — stars, wars, bars, tears, stores, starves. 

His fears were the children of a violated 
conscience. 

sf. — sphinx, sphere. 

Within my sphere, I am as secret as the 
Sphinx. 
sill*. — shrill, shriek, shrine, shrink, shrunk, shrank. 

He shrank from the shrill shriek of the un- 
shriven, who wildly wailed and wept before the 
shrine. 
*li. — skill, scald, scold, scamp, scull, scum. 

The scamp sculled the boat away and left 
me to scud home on foot. 
skr. — screams, scratch, scrawl, screen, scringe, scribe. 
Across the scraggy edge he drew the screech- 
ing file. 

sliS. — tasks, masks, frisks, desks, asks. 

He basks in the sunshine of fortune, for his 
tasks of life were well done. 

*k*t . — mask'st, frisk'st, bask'st, tusk'st. 

Ask'stihou to whom belongs this valley fair? 

$kt. — task'd, frisk'd, ask'd, tusk'd, bask'd. 

He risked his own, another's life to save. 

sl. — whistle, slow, rustle, slick, bustle, slash. 

The thistle-down slowly floats on the sum- 
mer air. 

slti. — whistPd, wrestl'd, tussl'd, jostl'd, bustl'd. 

NestVd in a quiet valley, the peaceful ham- 
let looked the home of the fairies. 



98 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

sis. — bristles, bustles, trestles, thistles, nestles. 

In our tussles with Fate, she often jostles 
our conceit out of us, and hustles common 
sense in. 
slst. — rustl'st, jostPst, nestl'st, bristl'st, bustl'st. 
Thou wrestVst bravely with thy faults. 
SIM. — smote, smile, small, smash, smack. 
The smooth waters smoother grow, 
As the sunset smiles upon the lake. 
Slid. — glist'n'd, moist'n'd, list'n'd, less'n'd. 

We listened to the mocking bird singing as 
the dew moistened the grass. 
HZ.— -list'ns, moist'ns, giist'ns, pers'ns. 

"Farewell !" moist ns many an eye. 
list, — less'n'st, list'n'st, hast'n'st. 

Thou hast rt st homeward without delay. 
SJJ.— speed, span, spell, grasp, lisp, hasp. 

Then clasp me round the neck once more. 
spl. — splendid, splutter, spleen, split, splash. 

The full moon rides in splendor thro' the 
midnight sky. 
spi*. — spring, sprung, sprain, spray, sprig. 

The cold spray turns to ice as it touches the 
colder sprigs of the overhanging branches. 
sps. — gasps, hasps, lisps, clasps, rasps. 

He shudders, gasps ; Jove help him ; so, he's 
dead. 
spt. — lisp'd, clasp'd, grasp'd. 

He lisp'd the words he should have spoken. 
St. — stay, still, stamp, list, last, lost. 

Hast thou a charm to stay the morning star ? 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 99 

Str. — strength, strut, stroll, strive, strown. 

They have strewn their beds with roses, but 
they will lie down on thorns, 
sts. — blasts, rusts, casts, mists, tastes, boasts. 

Wastes and deserts ; not waste sand des- 
erts. 
stst. — last'st, list'st, boast'st, tast'st, toast'st. 

Thou wasfst thy breath to no purpose. 

tllll. — strength'n, length'n. 

Live temperately if you would lengthen your 
days. 
Ill lid. — length'n 'd, strength 'n'd. 

Spend not thy length? n'd years in vain, 
tlilldst. -length 'n'dst, strength 'n'dst. 

Palsied is the arm thou strength? n'dst. 
tllllZ. — strengthens, length'ns. 

He lengthens the hour in vain. 
tllS. — youths, faiths, truths, swaths, wreaths. 

He sheaths the sword that ne'er was drawn 
in vain. 
till". — thrum, thrill, throb, thrush, throttle. 

Soft is the thrill that memory throws across 
the soul. 
tilt. — betroth'd. She was early betroth 'd 'to the man 

she loved. 
tlicl. — seeth'd, sooth'd, bath'd, loath'd, breath'd. 

They bath'd his heated brain, and sooth'd 
his frantic fears. 
tllZ. — breath's, bath's, tith's, scyth's, loath 's. 
She loath 's the very sight of him. 



IOO VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

tlittt. — writh'st, smooth'st, breath'st, bath'st. 

O guilt ! thou bath'st the world in tears. 
tlldst. — breath'dst, writh'dst, smooth'dst. 

Thou smooth'dst my pathway down the hill 
of life. 
tl. — rattle, whittle, bottle, title, cattle, throttle. 
Rattle his bones over the stones. 
tld.— prattl'd, bottl'd, rattl'd, throttl'd. 

The child prattVd on while the mother's 
heart was torn with grief. 
tldst. — startl'dst, bottl'dst, rattl'dst, throtti'dst. 

Thou startl'dst the sleepers from their gen- 
tle slumbers, 
tlz.— battl's, titl's, bottl's, turtl's, rattl's. 

At the thought of her, how the blood man- 
tles to his cheek. 
tlst. — battl'st, throttl'st, startl'st. 

Thou throttl'st the demon intemperance and 
savest thy life. 
tn. — light'n, batt'n, kitt'n, rott'n, mitt'n. 

Blessings bright n as they take their flight. 
tlld. — sweet'n'd, whit'n'd, mitt'n'd, bright'n'd. 

His heart light' n'd at the thought of her he 
soon would see. 
tnz. — whit'ns, kitt'ns, mitt'ns, light'ns. 

The snow whitns all the trees and fields. 
tr. — truth, trim, tread, glitter, brighter, theatre. 
The train from out the castle drew. 
tsh. — church, charm, chime, chubby, touch, wretch. 
He heard the chit-chat of the chubby chil- 
dren dear. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. IOI 

tsllt. — match'd, watch'd, touch'd, fetch'd. 

He touch 'd a chord that thrill'd all hearts 
with joy. 
tshtst.-touch'dst, parch'dst, snatch'dst. 

Thou touch y dst his wounded heart, 
ts. — huts, fates, bets, lots, lights. 

Ten censure wrong, for one who writes 
amiss. 
t*t. — start'st, shout'st, sitt'st, sport'st, smart'st. 
Thou start'st at trifles. 

vd. — believ'd, liv'd' lov'd, brav'd, starv'd, sav'd. 
He liv'd the life his conscience approved. 
vdst.— deserv'dst, liv'dst, believ'dst, deceiv'dst. 

Believ'dst thou what the prophets told thee? 
vl. — grov'l, shov'l, ev'l, shriv'l. 

Why grov'l in the darkness of evil, when 
the light of truth is so near? 
vld. — shrivl'd, shovl'd, grovl'd. 

The shrivl'd heart of the miser has no place 
for pity. 
vldst. — grovTdst, shovTdst. 

The worm that grov'l' dst in the earth, 
On fairy wings will cleave the sky. 
vlst. — driv'l'st, shovTst, ravTst, shrivTst. 

Thou trav'l'st a long journey to reach the 
Mecca of thy heart. 
viz. — ev'ls, lev'ls, shov'ls, driv'ls, bev'ls. 

Love lev'ls all ranks. 
Vll. — driv'n, ev'n, sev'n, shriv'n, crav'n, striv'n. 

The horse was driv'?i seventy-seven miles. 



102 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

VHZ, — ov'ns, crav'ns, ev'ns, sev'ns, heav'ns. 

The heav'ns declare the glory of God. 
Tilth. — sev'nth, elev'nth. 

At the elev'nth hour you came, though called 
at the seventh. 
VZ. — sheaves, waves, gloves, groves, saves, lives. 
Leaves have their time to fall. 
TSt. — liv'st, sav'st, prov'st, starv'st, shov'st. 

Thou prov'st thyself equal to the occasion. 

ZI1. — crims'n, froz'n, emblaz'n. 

Look on that crims'n field which mocks the 
purple clouds above it. 
Zlld. — blazn'd, seas'n'd, reas'n'd, pris'n'd. 

The emblaz'n'd banners flaunted on the 
breeze. 
Z11Z. — seas'ns, pris'ns, reas'ns, impris'ns. 

Thou hast all seas'ns for thine own, 
O Death ! 
znst. — seas'n'st, emblaz'n'st, impris'n'st. 

Thou emblaz'n'st his name high on the 
scroll of fame. 

Table VI is a list of the Vowel Sounds, with the 
diacritical marks as used in Webster's Dictionary. 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 103 

TABLE VI. 

1. a, as in ale, may, fate, fame. 

2. a, " add, map, fat, back. 

3. a, " air, fair, wear, tear. 

4. a, " arm, aunt, palm, laugh. 

5. a, " ask, glass, ant, branch. 

6. a, " all, swarthy, talk, law. 

7. a, " what, wallet, was, yacht. 

1. e, as in eve, eke, mete, believe. 

2. e, " end, fetch, web, deck. 

3. e, " ere, there, where, ne'er. 

4. e, " eight, prey, feign, heinous. 

5. e, st earn, terse, pert, serve. 

1. 1, as in ire, bind, thrive, wise. 

2. 1, " ill, pity, fit, finish. 

3. i, " police, marine, pique, retrieve. 

4. 1, u irksome, firm, bird, whirl. 

1. 6, as in ode, note, hold, no. 

2. 6, " odd, lock, docile, rob. 

3. 6, " other, won, son, brother. 

4. 6, " order, storm, born, horse. 

5. p, u move, prove, whom, lose. 

6. o, " bosom, wolf, woman, Wolsey. 

1. u, as in (y)use, lute, elude, presume. 

2. 11, " us, hush, bud, muddle. 

3. 11, " urn, furl, lurk, murmur. 

4. Uj " rude, prune, rural, true. 

5. u, " push, put, bullet, full. 

1. y, as in my, fly, gyve, try. 

2. y, " nymph, lily, lyric abyss. 



104 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

There are several vowel sounds not recognized by the 
dictionaries in the "key to pronunciation," such as "a" 
in many, says, again and saith; "e" as in pretty, and 
"ee" in been; "o" in work, worth, worship, worse, &c, 
and "o " in women ; " u " in busy and in bury ; and " y " 
in myrrh, myrtle, &c. But these play such an insig- 
nificant part in pronunciation, that they are very properly 
regarded as exceptional sounds, and not entitled to rec- 
ognition. 

In the rapid enunciation of syllables and words, many 
of the long vowel sounds become obscure. The gliding 
movement, so important to the melody of speeeh, makes 
this necessary. The obscured vowel generally tends to- 
ward a corresponding short vowel. A.s, for example, a 
obscured tends towards e ; e, towards I ; a, towards a ; 
6, towards rl, and 6b, towards o'o, &c. 

In Table VI, it will be seen that there are dif- 
ferent vowels representing the same sound. The follow- 
ing is a list of the exact equivalents : 

a=e; a=e ; a=6; e=i; e=i=u; i=y ; 1= f ; 6= 
u; o=u= 6b ; o=u=oo. 

There are also many equivalents of the vowel sounds 
formed by vowel combinations, but as this is not a text- 
book on orthography, their tabulation is purposely 
omitted. 

ANALYSIS OF WORDS. 

[Analysis, Syllabication, Accent and Pronunciation.'} 

One of the best means for correcting a faulty articula- 
tion and improving a good one, is the exercise of the 
voice and the organs of articulation in the analysis of 
words, as follows : 



DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS. 105 

r. Divide the word into its syllables by pronouncing 
each syllable separately. 

2. Divide each syllable into its elements, giving each 
element very distinctly three times ; then combine the 
elements and pronounce the syllable thus formed with 
precision, proceeding with each syllable of the word in 
the same way. 

3. Next, place the accent upon the syllable to which 
it belongs, and repeat the word several times, exagger- 
ating the accent in order to counteract the too common 
fault of pronouncing words with too little accent. If 
there is a "secondary " accent, give it with the degree of 
emphasis which its relative importance demands. Ac- 
cent is to the syllable in the word, what emphasis is to 
the word in the sentence. 

4. Last, pronounce the word several times very dis- 
tinctly and slowly, giving to each element its due 
amount of sound. Then repeat the pronunciation over 
and over with the same degree of accuracy, but increas- 
ing the rapidity at each repetition. 

Whenever the student finds a word difficult to articu- 
late or pronounce, it should be analyzed and practiced as 
directed above. The best readers will come across such 
words now and then, so that no one gets beyond the neces- 
sity — at least the possibility of benefit — of such thor- 
ough-going practices in articulation. 

To the list given below, the student can add for him- 
self such words as he may find most difficult to articulate 
or pronounce correctly. 

A good practice is to write the word on the black- 
board or on paper, and then write it underneath, separated 
into its syllables. The sounds of the vowels should then 



io6 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



be indicated according to the markings given in Table 
VI. 

An "obscure" vowel sound, (and there are many 
found in words,) may be marked with the sign of the vow- 
el to which it most nearly corresponds in sound. The 
silent letters may be canceled by drawing a line diago- 
nally across them. 

The following analyses will serve as models for black- 
board practice. 

Personification. Boundary. 

Per-son-i-fi-ca-ti(sh)6n Boun-da-ry 



Though 


• Company 


Phthisic 


though 


com-pa-ny 


ph\.hls-lc 


bade 


wire 


vehemence 


which 


history 


solicitously 


been 


contempt 


gradually 


wrestled 


really 


etymologically 


glass 


hospitable 


recapitulation 


again 


mischievous 


superciliousness 


truly 


accuracy 


allegorically 


laugh 


ignorant 


particularly 


evening 


anemone 


accompaniment 


iron 


regularly 


unintelligibility 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. 

The following sentences, embodying words containing 
each of the vowel sounds, should be carefully studied, 
that they may be read with the significance and expres- 
sion intended by the language. The words printed in 
italics and containing the vowel under consideration, 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. 1 07 

should be given with special accuracy and distinctness, 
but not, necessarily, with greater emphasis. 



1. The spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
Their great original proclaim, 

2. Incensed with indignation, Satan stood. 

3. The strong-felt passion bolts into the face ; 
The mind untouched, what is it but grimace ? 

4. Follow brave hearts ! — This pile remains, 
Our refuge still from life and chains. 

5. There was racing and chasing on cannobie Lee. 

6. — All beggared, save in tears 
Wherewith I daily weep an old man's fate. 

7. The cot may for the palace change — 

The palace for the cot. 

8. From Hell Gate to Gold Gate 

And the Sabbath unbroken, 
A sweep continental 

And the Saxon yet spoken ! 

9. No matter how well the track is laid, 

No matter how strong the engine is made, 
When you find you are running the downward 
grade, 
Put down the brakes. 
10. Whatever day makes man a slave, takes half his 
worth away. 

a 

1. Cosmopolitan rivers, Mississippi, Missouri, 
That travel the -planet like Jordan thro' Jewry. 



IOS VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

2. It rests with me, here brand to brand. 
Worn as thou art, to bid thee stand. 

3. We hold our greyhound in our hand, 

Our falcon on our glove ; 
But where shall we find leash or band 
For dame that loves to rove ? 

4. E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires. 

5. The traveler from his native land, 

The veriest wanderer 'neath the sun, 
When from his glass of life the sand, 

Has nearly its full volume run, 
Turns to the land that gave him birth, 

Though banished from his mind for years, 
And sighs to see that spot of earth 

That knew his childhood's smile and tears. 

6. None but himself can be his parallel. 

7. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. It is to 
the vigilant, the active, the brave. 

8. Small feet were pattering, 

Wooden shoes clattering, 
Little hands clapping, 

And little tongues chattering 
Like fowls in a farmyard when barley is scattering. 

a. 

1. He dares not touch a hair of Cataline ! 

2. The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new. 

3. Comrade, enough ! sit down and share 
A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare. 

4. From her fa,ir and unpolluted flesh 
May violets spring. 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. 1 09 

5. Flashed all their sabres bare, 
Flashed as they turned in air. 

6. Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square, 
The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare. 

7. I will feed fat the ancient grudge I dear him. 

8. The fashion wears out more apparel than the 
man. 

9. The monk, with unavailing cares 
Exhausted all the Church's prayers. 

10. u Fair, fair, and golden hair," 

Sang a lone mother while weeping, 
" Fair, fair, with golden hair, 

My little one's quietly sleeping. " 

11. Farewell \ a long farewell to all my greatness. 



1. Better be 

Where the extinguished Spartans still are free, 
In their proud charnel of Thermopylae, 
Than stagnate in our marsh. 

2. How often have I paused on every charm, 
The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm. 

3. Oh ! pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth. 

4. Hark ! I hear the bugles of the enemy. They 
are on their march along the bank of the river. 

5. With fruitless labor, Clara bound 

And strove to staunch the gushing wound. 

6. Where deserts lie down in the prairies ' broad 

calms, 
Where lake links to lake like the music of psalms. 



IO VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

7 . The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 

8. Hearts, like apples, are hard and sour, 
Till crushed by Pain's resistless power. 

9. He laughs best who laughs last. 

10. False wizard, avaunt\ I have marshalled my clan, 
Their swords, are a thousand, their bosoms are 
one. 



1. Then the poor exiles, every pleasure past, 

Hung round the bowers, and fondly looked their 
last. 

2. The besieged city was at its last gasp. 

3. On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined. 

4. The oak-tree struggling with the blast, 

Devours its father tree, 
And sheds its leaves and drops its mast, 
That more may be. 

5. The milk-haired heifer's life must pass 

That it may fill your own, 
As passed the sweet life of the grass 
She fed upon. 

6. From hand to hand life's cup is passed 

Up Being's piled gradation, 
Till men to angels yield at last 

The rich collation. 

7. Distance lends enchantment to the view. 

8. His shield is rent and his lance is broken. 

9. The lantern gleamed through the glancing snow, 

On his fixed and glassy eye. 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. 



10. Forth from the pass in tumult driven 
Like chaff "before the winds of heaven, 
The archery appear. 



i . All day and all night, 
It is rattle and clank, 
All night and all day, 

Smiting space in the flank. 

2. The falcon preys upon the finch, 
The finch upon the fly. 

3. Aurora, now, fair daughter of the dawn, 
Sprinkles with rosy light the upland lawn. 

4. How small, of all that human hearts endure, 
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure. 

5. And Nature made a pause, an awful pause, 
Prophetic of her end. 

6. The Universal cause 

Acts not by partial, but by general laws. 

7. It was not one fault alone, 
That brought him low. 

S. To where the stage, the poor, degraded stage, 

Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age. 
9. These taught us how to live; and (oh ! too high 
The price for knowledge) taught us how to die. 
10. Where the warbling waters flow. 



1 . What! has the yacht sunk ? 
-2. The warrior took that banner proud, 

And it was his martial cloak and shroud. 






112 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

3. Into Hiawatha's wigwam 
Came two other guests. 

4. Gentlemen, we are at the point of a century from 
the birth of Washington, and what a century it has been ! 

5. True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings ; 
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings. 

6. A weary night she stood to watch 
The battle-dawn up-roll. 

7. Oh ! what a rogue and peasant slave am I ! 

8. The providence that's in a watchful state 
Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold. 



1. The best laid schemes o' mice and men, 

Gang aft a-gley, 
And lea'e us naught but grief and pain, 
For promised joy. 

2. " Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend / ' 

I shrieked, upstarting. 

3. Be what ye seem, — seem what is best. 

4. There is a reaper, whose name is Death, 

And with his sickle keen, 
He reaps the bearded corn at a breath, 
And the flowers that grow between. 

5. When shall I, frail man, be pleading ? 
Who for me be interceding, 

When the just are mercy needing ? 

6. Oh, Thou that driest the mourner's tear, 

How dark this world would be, 
If, when deceived and wounded here, 
IVe could not fly to Thee. 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. 113 

Cleon is a slave to grandeur — 

Free as thought am I ; 
Cleo?i fees a score of doctors — 

Need of none have I. 
Now the wild rose blossoms o'er her little green 
grave, 

'Neath the trees in the flow'ry vale. 
When she had passed it seemed like the ceasing of 

exquisite music. 
From seeming evil still educing good. 
"Sleep soft, beloved," we sometimes say ; 
But have no power to charm away 
Sad dreams that through the eyelids creep. 



1. But never doleful dream again 
Shall break the blessed slumber when 

He giveth His beloved sleep. 

2. Lest men suspect your tale untrue, 
Keep probability in view. 

3. The Grave, dread thing ! 
Men shiver when thou'rt nam'd. 

4. It was like a message from the dead. Mr. Owen 
took the letter but could not break the envelope on account 
of his trembling fingers. He held it towards Mr. Allen. 

5. The chest contriv'd a double debt to pay, 
A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day. 

6. Our steps te?id homeward. 

7. Let us then with ourselves solemn conference hold, 
Ere sleep's silken fetters our senses enfold. 



114 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

8. My conscience is my crown, 

Contented thoughts my rest ; 
My heart is happy in itself, 
My bliss is in my breast. 

9. Anon 

His swift pursuers from heaven's gates discern 
The advantage, and descending, tread us down. 
1 o. The next night 

It came again, with a great wakening light, 

And showed the names whom love of God had 

blessed, 
And lo ! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. 



1. A form more fair, a face more sweet, 
Ne'er hath it been my lot to meet. 

2. Where are the mighty ones of ages past, 

Where are the dead ? 

3. The dead reign there alone. 

4. Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 

'Tis only noble to be good. 

5. And no man knows that sepulchre, 

And no man saw it e'er, 
For the angels of God upturned the sod, 
And laid the dead man there. 

6. Mad from life's history, 
Glad to death's mystery 
Swift to be hurl'd — 
Anywhere, anywhere, 

Out of the world. 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. 115 

7. Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered 
muse, 
The place of fame and elegy supply. 



1. The very horses knew his weight. 

2. The snow-white signals, fluttering, blending, 
Round her like a veil descending. 

3. They fell a prey, that unlucky day, to the 
Wisconsin regiment. 

4. Does the Bey of Algiers drink whey ? 

5. How, scanning each living temple, 

For the place where the veil is thin, 
We may gather, by beautiful glimpses, 
Some form of the God within. 

6. The undaunted, but baffled troops fell an easy 
prey to the enemy. 



1. The quality of mercy is not strained. 

2. His early career was full of vicissitudes. 

3. Life's a warning 

That only serves to make us grieve. 

4. Earth to earth, and dust to dust. 

5 . Truth crushed to earth shall rise again ; 
The eternal years of God are hers. 

6. To err is human ; to forgive, divine. 

7. And she thinks through its swerve 
By the telegraph nerve. 



Il6 VOICE GULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

8. The pearl that worldling's covet, 
Is not the pearl for me. 

9. Bertha bought herself a jwgr* dress. 

10. Doomed for a certain term to walk the night. 

11. Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs. 

1 

1. Conscript Fathers, 

/ do not rise to waste the night in words. 

2. And he has never written line. 

Nor sent you word, nor made you sign 
To say he was alive ? 

3. He once was kind! 

And / believed 'twould last — how mad ! — how 
blind! 

4. He knows / stay. 

Night after night in loneliness to pray 
For his return ! 

5. There's a thrill in the air 

Like the tingle of wine, 
Like a bugle-blown blast 

When the scimiters shine, 
And the sky-line is broken 

By the Mountains Divine ! 

6. Idleness is a fruitful cause of vice and crime. 

7. Of all the vices that conspire to blind 

Man's erring judgment, and misguide his mind, 
What the weak head with strongest bias rules 
Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools. 

8. Ring out wild bells to the wild sky, 

The /lying cloud, the frosty night ; 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. 117 

The year is dying in the night; 
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. 
<f. He that by the plow would thrive 

Must either hold the plow or drive. 
10. While life's dark maze /tread, 
Be Thou my guide. 

1. 

1 . There's man) 7 a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip. 

2. The sailor's eyes were dim with dew, — 
"Your little lad, your Elihul" 

He said with trembling lip, — 
"What little lad ? What ship ? " 

3. Aye, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans 
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, 
"Alas ! " it cried — " Give me some drink Titinius." 

4. Still it whispered promised pleasure, 

And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail. 

5. I found it in his closet ; 'tis his will. 

6. x^round us are vineyards 
With their jewels and gems, 

Living trinkets of wine 
Blushing warm on the stems. 

7. F the name of truth, 
Are ye fantastical, or that i?ideed 
Which outwardly ye show? 

8. If it were done, when ' tis done, then 'twere well, 
It were done quickly. 

i. 
1. The police caught the marine just before he reach- 
ed the boat. 



Il8 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

2. The lady was piqued at her indifference. 

3. With inward arms, the dire machine they load. 

4. A deep ravine divided the opposing forces. 

5. Piqued by Protozene's fame, 

From Cos to Rhodes Appelles came. 

6. The caprices of pupils sometimes drive the 
patience of the teacher beyond the border-line of for- 
bearance. 

7. Coming from an infected port, the vessel was 
quarantined, 

8. I hear the Florentine, who from his palace 
Wheels out his battle-bell with dreadful din. 



i. His mirth was the joy of the mirthful, 
His firmness the pride of the firm. 

2. A dirge swells through the cloudy sky. 

3. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. 

4. The broadest mirth unfeeling folly wears, 
Less pleasing far than virtue's very tears. 

5. No ! let us rise at once, gird on our swords. 

6. "He does not love me for my birth, 
Nor for my lands so broad and fair: 
He loves me for my own true worth, 
And that is well," said Lady Clare. 

7. First in wax, first in peace, and. first in the hearts 
of his countrymen. 

8. The raven croaked, and hollow shrieks of owls 
Sung dirges at her funeral. 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. II9 



i. Thou hast no shore, fair ocean, 

Thou hast no time, bright day. 

2. One cold, bleak winter night, the snow fell fast. 

3. Out from the shore of the unknown sea, 
The unknown sea that reels and rolls, 
Specked with the barks of little souls. 

4. We were as merry as crickets and as warm as 
toast, all but our noses, toes and finger-ends. 

5. The mind that broods o'er guilty woes, 

Is like the scorpion girt by fire ; 
In circles narrowing as it glows, 
The flames around the captive close, 
Till inly searched by thousand throes, 

And maddening in her ire, 
One sad and sole relief she knows t 
The sting she nourished for her foes. 

6. How fell he — with his face to the/<?*, 
Upholding the flag he bore ? 

7. The train majestically slow proceeds. 

8. He is firm, self-denying, self-postponing, sacrificing 
everything to his aim — money, troops, generals and his 
own safety, also ; not misled, like common adventurers, 
by the splendor of his own means. 

9. To die or conquer proves a hero's heart, 
And knowing this, I know a soldier's part. 

10. Was poet ever so trusted before ? 



He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen, 
Let him not know it, and he's not robb'd at all. 



D VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

2. Have you not heard it said full oft, 

A woman's nay doth stand for naught ? 

3. Vainly the fowler's eye 

Might mark thy flight to do thee wrong, 
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky, 
Thy figure floats along. 

4. Absence of occupation is not rest. 

5 . For though his body's under hatches, 

His soul has gone aloft. 

6. On their own merits modest men are dumb. . 

7. My tears must stop, for every drop 
Hinders needle and thread. 

8. Give lettered pomp to teeth of time, 
So Bonny Doon but tarry ; 

Blot out the epic's stately rhyme, 
But spare his Highland Mary. 

9. The mossy marbles rest 

On the lips that he has; pressed 
In their bloom. 
10. And though he promise to his loss, 
He makes his promise good. 



1. So much one man can do, 
That does but act and know. 

2. Men my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping 
something new. 

3. Who dares do one thing, and another tell, 

My heart detests him as the gates of hell. 

4. But I sit above it all. 1 am alone with the stars. 



VOWEJ. SOUND PRACTICE. 12 1 

5. When other lips and other hearts 

Their tales of love shall tell. 

6. The young man was the only son of his ?nother, and 
she was a widow. 

7. Come, gentle hermit of the dale. 

8. The prize was won by the son of the governor's 
cousin. 

9. Their blood be on their heads. 

10. Hark, 'tis his knock ! he comes! he comes o?ice 
more ! 



1. Califor?iia is justly called the Golden State. 

2. There are floating forms 
That whisper over me like summer leaves. 

3 I trow they did not part in scorn. 

4. For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. 

5 . Stormed at with shot and shell 
While horse and hero fell. 

6. All men think all men mortal but themselves. 

7. I wish you all sorts of prosperity. 

8. A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse. 



1 . Move not, or I shall move! 

2. Softly sweet in Lydian measures, 
Soon he soothed his soul to pleasures. 

3. All in the downs the fleet was moored. 

4. On this sad subject you inquire too mu h. 



122 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

5. There's an old maxim in the schools. 
That flattery's the food of fools. 

6. The heart whose softness harmonized the whole. 

7. Sleep and death— to? twins of winged race, 
Of matchless swiftness, but of silent pace. 

8. Know thy vain self, nor let their flattery move. 

9. Whom but Maud should I meet? 

10. So many worlds, so much to do. 

1 1. The water oozed out from between the rocks, prov- 
ing the truth of the old miner's statement. 

12. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 



1. Happy he 

With such a mother ! faith in womankind 
Beats with his blood. 

2. But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the 

wood, 
And the yellow sunflower by the brook in autumn 
beauty stood. 

3. I would that I could be 
A hermit in the crowd like thee. 

4. Love, like Death, 

Levels all ranks, and lays the shepherd's crook 
Beside the sceptre. 

5. The strokes of the woodman's axe resound, 
Through forest, hill and vale. 

6. " All the better to see you with," said the wolf. 

7. The girl took her woolen dress, and shook the dust 
out of it. 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. I 23 

8. The wolfs stealthy tread along the woodland bor- 
der was not heard by the boy, whose bosom heaved a sigh 
as he dreamed of his home so far away. 

u. 

1. But since my oath was taken for public use, 
I broke the letter of it to keep the sense. 

2. O for a lodge in some vast wilderness, 
Some boundless co?itiguity of shade. 

3. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the 
head. 

4. His very foot has music in't 

As he comes up the stairs. 

5. We mutually pledge to each other 

Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour. 

6. What constitutes a state? 

Men who their duties know, but know their rights. 

7. Do not presume too much upon my love, 
I may do that I shall be sorry for. 

8. Who can refute a sneer? 

9. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth 
is Mount Zion. 

10. Strange ! that a harp of a thousand strings 

Should keep in tune so long. 

11. 'Tis the same with common natures: 

Use 'em kindly, they rebel. 

u. 

1. The trumpet sounded, " Up land to horse. " 

2. Minutes and mercies multiplied 
Have made up all this day. 



124 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

3. War, he sung, is toil and trouble, 
Honour, but&n empty bubble. 

4. The sweet remembrance of the Just 
Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust. 

5. " Poor wretch," ?nuttered his companion, you 
must go like the rest of us. When the death-watch is 
called, none can skulk from the 77iuster. 

6. Stretch'd in the dust the unhappy warrior lies. 

7. Now shouts and tumults wake the tardy sun, 
And with the light the warriors toils begun. 

8. In arms the glittering squadron round 
Rush sudden. 

9. And once, but once she lifted her eyes, 
And suddenly, sweetly, strangely blushed. 



1. Hushed by the murmurs of the rolling deep, 
At length he sinks in the arms of sleep. 

2. Rest ! rest ! perturbed spirit. 

3. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy. 

4. He would frighten them with the alarming fact 
that the world did absolutely turn round, and that they 
were half the time topsy-tuny. 

5. I must finish my journey alone. 

6. Domestic happiness ! thou only bliss 
Of Paradise that has survived the fall. 

7. Through the ages, one increasing purpose runs. 

8. The further edge of the mountain was of a deep 
purple color. 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. I 25 

For murder, tho' it have no tongue, will speak. 

The Sepulchre 
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurned, 
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws. 



1. Each in his narrow cell forever laid. 

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 

2. Here at school we gather daily, 

And we learn the golden rule. 

3. The man that blushes is not quite a brute. 

4. Rude am I in speech, 

And little blessed with the set phrase of peace. 

5. Not rural sights alone, but rural sounds exhila- 
rate the spirit. 

6. Prudes are over prudent. 

7. Do you ever use rouge ? 

8. It is a quiet glen as you may see, 
Shut out from all intrusion. 

9. Atoms or systems into ruin hurled. 

And now a bubble burst, and now a world. 

10. Give to our use the kindly fruits of the earth. 

11. And you, brave Cobham, to the latest breath, 
Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death. 

12. You must wear your rue with a difference. 



The air is full of farewells to the dying, 

And mournings for the dead. 

He putteth down one and setteth up another. 



126 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

3. When in nice balance, truth with gold she weighs, 
And solid pudding against empty praise. 

4. Pulling off his cap he ascended the pulpit. 

5. Now pus /i me in with all your might. 

6. Put some sugar- in my tea. 

7. Good wine needs no bush. 

8. Britannia needs no bulwarks. 

No towers along the steep. 

9. Poor pussy was afraid of the big bull-dog. 
10. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. 



1. Swifter than thought the wheels instinctively, 
Flame through the vast of air, and reach the sky. 

2. Love is a boy by poets styl'd, 

Then spare the rod and spoil the child. 

3. From the ships they saw the smoke of a funeral 
pyre. 

4. Ay, sweet Rosalind. 

5. Why, cousin ! why, Rosalind ! thy words are too 
precious to be cast away upon curs. 

6. I could shake them off /«/ coat ; these burs are in 

my heart. 

7. The lyre's soft music was heard beneath the 
cypress boughs. 

8. I would try, if I could cry "hem ! " and have him. 

9. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections. 
10. Whoe'er I woo, myself would be the wife. 



VOWEL SOUND PRACTICE. 1 27 

1. Myriads of daises have shone forth in flower, 
That none but the lark hath seen. 

2. Have you seen the pyramids of Egypt? 

3. Pygmies are pygmies still, though perched on Alps, 
And pyramids are pyramids in vales. 

4. This life of mortal breath, 

Is but the suburb of the life elysian. 

5. He hadn't any sympathy for the poor. 

6. Can you give the etymolgical analysis of the word 
"symphony ? " 

7. The dove symbolizes purity. 

8. The mystery is too deep for human intellect to 
fathom. 

9. The man in the moon is a myth. 
10. I knew that bounding grace of step, 

That symmetry of mould. 

oy. 

1. Heard ye the voice of Jove ? Success and fame 
Await on Troy — on Greece, eternal shame. 

2. In every joy that crowns my days, 

Thy ruling handT see. 

3. To-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey. 

4. Shall we clap into 't roundly, without hawking or 
spitting or saying we are hoarse, which are the only pro- 
logues to a bad voice ? 

5. My voice is ragged : I cannot please you. 

6. What is one man's poison may be another man's 
meat. 



128 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

7. He left a name at which the world grew pale, 
To point a moral or adorn a tale. 

8. What dreadful noise of water in mine ears ! 

9. In every stage 
By toys our fancies are beguiled. 

10. O woman ! in our hours of ease, 
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please. 



1 . Loud sounds the axe, redoubling strokes on strokes. 

2. Flowers are lovely, love is flower-like ; 
Friendship is a sheltering tree. 

3. The ploughman homeward plods his weary way. 

4. Confusion worse confounded. 

5. Not heaven itself upon the past has flower, 

But what has been, has been, and I have had my 
hour. 

6. Ring out old shapes of foul disease, 

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold ; 
Ring out the thousand wars of old, 
Ring in the thousand years of peace. 

7. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words with- 
out knowledge? 

8 Death found strange beauty on that polished 
brow. 

9. Man's inhumanity to man 

Makes countless thousands mourn. 
10. Cold is thy brow, my son, and I am chill, 
As to my bosom I have tried to press thee. 






DIFFICULT ARTICULATION. I 29 

READING BY VOWEL SOUNDS — 

Is an excellent practice. The exercise may be given as 
follows : 

Take some poem in which the accent is very pro- 
nounced — the "Psalm of Life," for example. Read the 
first line distinctly and with the required modulation and 
expression. Then drop the consonants, giving the vow- 
els alone, as they were heard in the first reading, and 
with the same expression. 

"Tell me not in mournful numbers/' 
e eoi 6 uue 

Thus proceed with the other lines. 

After a little practice whole poems as well as prose se- 
lections may be read thus, with almost as much facility 
and expression as when the consonants are sounded. 
There is no better exercise for training the ear to catch 
the exact sound of the vowels, and the voice to the habit 
of bringing out their full value in the words. It is also 
an excellent practice for modulation. 

SENTENCES OF DIFFICULT ARTICULATION. 

i. It fitteth for happiness and leadeth us thither. 

2. It was indubitably an abominable eccentricity. 

3. The invincible duplicity of inquisitive men. 

4. The listlessness and laziness of the frivolous. 

5. The consul should counsel with the councillors. 

6. Every government has its history. 

7. The incomprehensibility of the article, etymologi- 
cally considered, is evident. 

8. Truly rural, truly rural rationalist. [Repeat ] 



130 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

9. A big black bug bit a big black bear. [Repeat] 

10. February and June, February and June. " 

11. The miserable accompaniment is unnecessary and 
intolerable. 

12. Black babbling brooks break brawling o'er their 
bounds. 

13. Shoes and socks shock Susan. [Repeat.] 

14. Sheep soup, shoat soup. 

15. Some shun sunshine. 

16. She sells sea-shells. 

17. Five wives weave withes. 

18. Tie tight Dick's kite. 

19. Geese cackle, cattle low, crows caw, cocks crow. 

20. She stood at the gate welcoming them in. 

21. A great big brig's freight. 

22. Three gray geese in a green field grazing, — gray 
were the geese, green was the grazing. 

23. Execrable Xantippe exhibited extraordinary and 
excessive irritability. 

24. Bob beat Ben Brindle's bramble bushes. 

25. Ducks, dogs, dandies and donkeys are depreda- 
tors. 

26. Grandmother's giggling girls have golden goggles 
got. 

27. Wanton wags with woful words the winds bewail. 

28. Mr. Yew, did you say what Mr. Yew Yaw said 
you said? 

29. I was charmed with the chit-chat of the chubby 
children dear. 



DIFFICULT ARTICULATION. I3I 

30. Thrilling thunder thriftless throngs the Frith of 
Forth. 

31. Whim-whams, whirligigs and whimpering whirl- 
winds whirled by. 

32. He sweats and boasts, and twists his texts, to suit 
the several sects. 

33. It was a positively and a provokingly pecuniary 
predicament. 

34. Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle-sifter, in 
sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust 3,000 thistles 
through the thick of his thumb ; see that thou, in 
sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust not 3,000 
thistles through the thick of thy tongue. Success to the 
successful thistle-sifter. 

35. It is a shame, Sam ; these are the same, Sam ; 'tis 
all a sham, Sam ; and a shame it is to sham so, Sam. 

36. Like the bugle-blown blast where the scimitars 
shine. 

37. They are confusing weak men's ideas, and making 
weak women's minds weaker. 

38. Good blood, bad blood. [Repeat.] 
'39. Tho' my very heart it thrilleth, 

When from crimson-threaded lips, 
Silver-treble laughter trilleth, 
Prythee weep, May Lillian. 

40. And the columns that were scattered, round the 

colors that were tattered, 
Toward the sullen, silent fortress, turned their 
belted breasts, again. 

41. I must decline 

To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, 



I32 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock, 
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock, 
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black 
block. 

42. Amidst the mists and frosts the coldest, 
With wrists the barest and heart the boldest, 
Thou thrusc'st thy fists 'gainst posts the oldest, 
And yet insist'st thou still beholdest 

The ghastly ghosts in Sixth street. 

43. Let the singing singers 
With vocal voices, most vociferous, 

In sweet vociferation, out-vociferize 
Ev'n sound itself. 

44. Genteel in personage, 
Conduct and equipage ; 
Noble by heritage, 
Generous and free. 

AN ALPHABETICAL ALLITERATION. 

An Austrian army awfully arrayed, 

Boldly by battery besieged Belgrade. 

■Cossack commanders cannonading come, 

Dealing destruction's devastating doom; 

Every endeavor engineers essay 

For fame, for fortune fighting — furious fray ! 

Generals 'gainst generals grapple — gracious God ! 

How honors Heaven heroic hardihood ! 

Infuriate, indiscriminate in ill, 

Kindred kill kinsmen, kinsmen kindred kill. 

Labor low levels longest, loftiest lines ; 

Men march 'mid mounds, 'mid moles, 'mid murd'rous mines. 

Now noxious, noisy numbers, noting naught 



PRONUNCIATION. 1 3 3 

Of outward obstacles, opposing ought ; 

Poor patriots, partly purchased, partly pressed, 

Quite quaking, quickly "Quarter ! Quarter ! " 'quest. 

Reason returns, religious right redounds, 

Suwarrow stops such sanguinary sounds. 

Truce to thee, Turkey ! Triumph to thy train, 

Unwise, unjust, unmerciful Ukraine ! 

Vanish vain victory ! Vanish victory vain ! 

Why wish we warfare ? Wherefore welcome were 

Xerxes, Ximines, Xanthus, Xavier ? 

Yield, yield, ye youths ! ye yeomen, yield your yell ! 

Zeus's, Zarpater's, Zoroaster's zeal, 

Attracting all arms against acts appeal. 

PRONUNCIATION. 

Pronunciation is more a matter of habit than of knowl- 
edge. The same is true of articulation. The mere 
knowledge of the right way will not correct a mispronun- 
ciation, or remove a faulty articulation. 

The frequent repetition of the correct way must form 
the habit that will crowd out the wrong way. Knowledge, 
of course, is necessary, and must always precede prac- 
tice. But it is practice that effects a reformation. 

Standards of pronunciation are, perhaps, more depend- 
ent upon custom than upon etymological and accentual 
laws. As to a large majority of our words, the pronun- 
ciations are, no doubt, established ; but w r ith regard to a 
considerable minority, an irrepressible struggle seems 
to be going on between custom and law, with the former 
in the vantage ground. 

As uniformity is desirable, conformity to some high 
standard becomes necessary. And since our best die- 



134 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

tionaries constitute that standard, we should appeal to 
them, and recognize their authority as final. 

Every student should make a list of his own mispro- 
nounced words, putting down such, from time to time, 
as he finds that, (through ignorance or habit), he mispro- 
nounces or fails to articulate with sufficient distinctness. 
The teacher, too, should note such words as the pupil 
may fail to give correctly in his readings and recitations — 
not only criticising the pupil at the time, but giving him 
a list of the words with the vowels and accentuations 
carefully marked. 

The student should practice his list of words daily, 
giving each word aloud three times with great distinct- 
ness, and increasing the rapidity at each pronunciation. 
A thorough analysis of the hardest words, according to 
to the directions already given, would be an excellent 
and a profitable practice. 

That no student may lay claim to infallibility, and 
that all may fully appreciate the difficulties in pronuncia- 
tion, and the necessity of frequent appeals to the dic- 
tionary, the following literary curiosity is inserted for 
study and practice : 

EXERCISE IN PRONUCIATION. 

One enervating morning, just after the rise of the sun, 
a youth, bearing" the cognomen of Galileo, glided into his 
gondola over the legendary waters of the lethean Thames. 
He was accompanied by his allies and coadjutors, the 
polorous Pepys and the erudite Cholmondeley, the most 
combative aristocrat extant, and an epicurean who, for 
learned vagaries and revolting discrepancies of character, 
would take precedence of the most erudite of Areopagiae 
literati. 



PRONUNCIATION. 1 3 5 

These sacrilegious dramatis -persona were discussing 
in detail a suggestive address, delivered from the pros- 
cenium box of the Calisthenic Lyceum by a notable finan- 
cier, on obligatory hydropathy, as accessory to the irre- 
vocable and irreparable doctrine of evolution which has 
been vehemently panegyrized by a splenetic professor of 
acoustics, and simultaneously denounced by a complai- 
sant opponent as an undemonstrated romance of the last 
decade, amenable to no reasoning, however allopathic, 
outside of its own lamentable environs. 

These peremptory tripartite brethren arrived at Green- 
wich, to aggrandize themselves by indulging in exemplary 
relaxation, indicatory of implacable detestation of inte- 
gral tergiversation and exoteric intrigue. They fraternized 
with a phrenological harlequin whg was a connoisseur in 
mezzo tint and falconry. This piquant person was heap- 
ing contumely and scathing raillery on an airateur in jug- 
ular recitative, who held that the Pharaohs of Asia were 
conversant with his theory that morphine and quinine 
were exorcists of bronchitis. 

Meanwhile, the leisurely Augustine of Cockburn drank 
from a tortoise shell wassail cup to the health of an apoth- 
eosized recusant, who was his supererogatory patron, and 
an assistant recognizance in the immobile nomenclature 
of interstitial molecular phonics. The contents of the 
vase prjoving soporific, a stolid plebeian took from its 
cerements a heraldic violincello, and assisted by a pleth- 
oric diocesan from Pall Mall, who performed on a sono- 
rous piano-forte, proceeded to wake the clangorous echoes 
of the Empyrean. They bade the prolyx Caucasian gen- 
tleman not to misconstrue their inexorable demands, 
whilst they dined on acclimated anchovies and apricot 
truffles, and had for dessert a wiseacre's pharmacopoeia. 



I36 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Thus the truculent Pythagoreans had a novel repast fit 
for the gods. On the subsidence of the feast they alter- 
nated between soft languors and isolated scenes of squalor 
which followed mechanic's reconnoisance of the imagery 
of Uranus, the legend of whose incognito related to a 
poinard wound in the abdomen, received while cutting a 
swath in the interests of telegraphy and posthumous pho- 
tography. Meantime, an unctuous orthoepist applied a 
homoeopathic restorative to the retina of an objugatory 
spaniel, (named Daniel) and tried to perfect the con- 
struction of a behemoth, which had got mired in pygmean 
slough while listening to the elegiac soughing of the 
prehistoric wind. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 37 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 



'Tis not enough the voice be sound and clear 
'Tis modulation that must charm the ear. 



Give me, of every language, first my vigorous English, 
Stored with imported wealth, rich in its natural mines. 



How art thou freely obedient unto the poet or speaker, 
When, in a happy hour, thought into speech he translates ! 
Caught on the word's sharp angles flash the bright hues of his fancy ; 
Grandly the thought rides the words, as a good horseman his steed. 

W. W. Story. 



The principal elements of Modulation are pitchy force 
and stress ; while Expression is an inclusive term, compre- 
hending all physical and vocal means for the communica- 
tion of thought and feeling. 

Pitch has already been denned as the elevation and 
depression of the voice on the musical scale. 

Force relates to the loudness of sound, or more prop- 
erly to the degree of energy ; and Stress to the different 
ways in which the energy is applied. 

It is a common fault to confound Pitch with Force. 
High and low implies change of key, having no reference 
to degree of force. Loud and soft refer to the latter and 
denote different degrees of energy, volume or power of 



138 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

voice on the same key, and correspond to forte and 
piano in music. The actor gives his"asides" in low 
pitch and in aspirated quality to indicate secresy, yet the 
words are given with sufficient loudness to be heard by all. 
The roar of heavy artillery is very low pitch, and the 
sound of the ^Eolian harp very high ; but the former, 
though low, is loud, and the latter, though high is soft. 
Yet, as a general rule, an elevation in pitch calls for a 
corresponding increase in force. 

PITCH. 

The degrees of pitch range from the lowest to the 
highest note within the compass of the voice. For prac- 
tice, five degrees are usually recognized in elocution, 
namely : very low, low, middle, high and very high. 
These include all the intermediate degrees. 

After the exercises given under Voice Culture are mas- 
tered, the following will be found an excellent practice to 
increase the availability of the voice, for purposes of 
speech, throughout its compass. 

Give the first sentence below with a gradually ascend- 
ing pitch, from the lowest to the highest note within the 
compass of the voice, as indicated. 

Voices that can command two octaves may give each 
syllable in the sentence on a successively higher note — 
running, say, from " G," below middle "C," to the sec- 
ond " G" above. Those having a more limited compass 
can run up by half tones, or, if that is too difficult, they 
may give two syllables to each note 5 this will require 
but one octave. The commencing tone {key note) may 
be " G," "A," "B" or "C." 

The practice should be, first, in a half musical voice, 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 39 

gradually changing to the colloquial, and giving the inter- 
rogative slide on the last syllable. 

G tion? G 

F ac- 
E in- F 

D and 
C tion E 

B lu- 
A o- D 

G res- 
F ir- C 

E by • 
D strength B 
C er 
B gath- A 

A we 
G Shall G 

The following additional sentences should be given 
first, as in the foregoing exercise, and then in the speaking 
voice and with proper expression. 

1 . Would you wrest the wreath of fame 
From the hand of fate? 

2. Would you write a deathless name 
With the good and great? 

3. He that formed the eye, shall He not see? 

4. He that teacheth man knowledge, shall He not 
know ? 

5. Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance 
by lying supinely upon our backs, and hugging the delu- 
sive phanton of hope, until our enemies shall have bound 
us hand and foot ? 



140 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

A similar practice on the descending scale is indicated 
below. 

All 

gloom — 
all 

si- 
lence- 
all 

des- 
pair ! 

ADDITIONAL SENTENCES. 

1. How jocund did they drive their team afield ! 

2. Ah me ! those days — those days ! 

3. How the wild winds howl around my desolate 
home ! 

4. Oh, what a fall was there my countrymen ! 

5. O, horrible ! horrible ! most horrible ! 

ASCENDING AND DESCENDING COMBINED. 

1 . Came I not forth upon thy pledge, my father's hand to kiss ? 
Be still, and gaze thou on, false king, and tell|me what is 

this? 

2. Would ye give it up to slaves? 
Would ye look for greener graves? 

Hope ye mercy still? — 
What's the mercy despots feel? 

3. When this fiery mass 

Of living valor, rolling on the foe, 
And burning with high hope, — 
Shall moulder cold and low ! 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 141 

In unimpassioned styles, such as ordinary conversa- 
tion, the didactic, the narrative, etc., the Middle Pitch 
predominates. 

In impassioned utterance, as in exultation, anxiety, 
joy, hailing, and in most of the livelier emotions of exci- 
tation, High, and Very High Pitch is employed. 

While in solemnity, awe, reverence, and generally in 
doubt, dread, scorn and sorrow, a Low and Very Low 
pitch of voice are used. 

The degree of pitch depends largely upon the ear- 
nestness with which the emotion is expressed, — an in- 
crease in earnestness calling for a higher pitch and 
usually for an increase in force. This makes many of 
the examples under High and Very High pitch inter- 
changeable ; also those under Low and Very Low. 

MIDDLE PITCH. 

1. Next to the originator of a good sentence, is the 
first quoter of it. 

2. Thought engenders thought. Place one idea upon 
paper, another immediately follows, and still another 
until you have written a page. You cannot fathom your 
mind. There is a well of thought there that has no bot- 
tom. The more you draw from it, the more clear and 
abounding will it be. Learn to think and you will learn 
to write. The more you think, the better you will ex- 
press your ideas. Anon. 

3. A Sensitive Plant in a garden grew; 

And the young winds fed it with silver dew, 
And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light, 
And closed them beneath the kisses of night. 

Shelley. 



142 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

4. There is a river in the ocean. In the severest 
droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it 
never overflows. Its banks and its bottom are of cold 
water, while its current is of warm. The Gulf of Mexico 
is its fountain, and its mouth is in the Arctic Ocean. It 
is the Gulf Stream. Maury. 

5. More potent far may be the look, 
Through which the soul to soul conveys 
The subtler thought with import clear, 

Than spoken words, 
Which different meanings may express. 

6. Our deeds still travel with us from afar; 

And what we have been, makes us what we are. 

7. There is no more interesting spectacle than to see 
the effects of wit upon the different characters of men ; 
than to observe it expanding caution, relaxing dignity, 
unfreezing coldness, teaching age and care and pain to 
smile, — extorting reluctant gleams of pleasure from mel- 
ancholy, and charming even the pangs of grief. It is 
pleasant to observe how it penetrates through the cold- 
ness and awkwardness of society, gradually bringing men 
nearer together, and, like the combined force of wine and 
oil, giving every man a glad heart and a shining coun- 
tenance. Genuine and innocent wit like this is surely 
the flavor of the mind. Man could direct his ways by 
plain reason, aud support his life by tasteless food ; but 
God has given us wit, and flavor, and laughter, and per- 
fumes, to enliven the days of man's pilgrimage, and to 
" charm his painful steps over the burning marie." 

Sydney Smith. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 43 



Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, 

The flying cloud, the frosty light; 

The year is dying in the night, 
Ring out wild bells, and let him die. 

Ring out the old, ring in the new, 
Ring, happy bells, across the snow; 
The year is going, let him go; 
Ring out the false, ring in the true. 

Tennyson. 

Bring flowers, young flowers, for the festal board, 

To wreathe the cup ere the wine is poured ! 

Bring flowers, they are springing in wood and vale; 

Their breath floats out on the southern gale, 

And the touch of the sunbeam hath waked the rose 

To deck the hall where the bright wine flows. 

Mrs. Hemans. 

, You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear; 

To-morrow'll be the happiest time of all the glad New-year; 

Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest, merriest day; 

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' 

the May. 

Tennyson. 

News of battle ! news of battle ! 

Hark ! 'tis ringing down the street; 
And the archways and the pavements 

Bear the clang of hurrying feet. 
News of battle ! Who hath brought it? 

All are thronging to the gate; 



144 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

" Warder, — warder ! open quickly ! 
Man, — is this a time to wait ? " 

Aytotm. 

5. Hold ! for your lives: — 

Why, how now, ho ! from whence ariseththis? 

6. For the strength of the hills we bless thee 

Our God ! our father's God ! 
Thou hast made our children mighty 
By the touch of the mountain sod. 

Mrs. Hemans. 

VERY HIGH. 

1 . Boat, ahoy ! Boat, ahoy ! Boat, ahoy ! 

2. Hurrah ! hurrah ! a single field has turned the chance of war •' 
Hurrah ! hurrah ! for Ivry, and Henry of Navarre ! 

3. Bursts the storm on Phocis' walls ! 

Rise ! — or Greece forever falls. 

4. Awake ! awake ! 

Ring the alarum bell ! — Murder ! and treason ! 
Banquo, and Donalbain ! Malcolm ! awake ! 
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, 
And look on death itself ! — Up, up and see 
The great doom's image ! — Malcolm ! Banquo ! 
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites 
To countenance this horror ! 

Shakespeare . 

5. Up draw -bridge, grooms ! what, warder, ho ! 

Let the portcullis fall. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 45 

The Rhine ! the Rhine ! our own imperial river ! 

Be glory on thy track ! 
We left thy shores to die or to deliver — 

We bring thee freedom back ! 

Go tell the seas, that chain shall bind thee never ! 

Sound on by hearth and shrine ! 
Sing through the hills that thou art free forever — 

Lift up thy voice, O Rhine ! 

Mrs. Hemam, 



Tis midnight's holy hour, — and silence now 

Is brooding like a gentle spirit o'er 

The still and pulseless world. Hark ! on the winds 

The bell's deep tones are swelling, — 'tis the knell 

Of the departed year. No funeral train 

Is sweeping past; yet, on the stream and wood, 

With melancholy light, the moonbeams rest 

Like a pale, spotless shroud; the air is stirred 

As by a mourner's sigh; and on yon cloud 

That floats so still and placidly through heaven, 

The spirits of the seasons seem to stand, — 

Young Spring, bright Summer, Autumn's solemn form, 

And Winter with his aged locks, — and breathe 

In mournful cadences that come abroad 

Like the far wind-harps wild and touching wail, 

A melancholy dirge o'er the dead year, 

Gone from the earth forever. 

Geo. D. Prentice. 

Bring flowers, pale flowers, o'er the bier to shed, 

A crown for the brow of the early dead ! 

For this, through its leaves, hath the white rose burst, 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

For this, in the woods, was the violet nursed. 
Though they smile in vain for what once was ours, 
They are love's last gift. Bring flowers, pale flowers ! 

Mrs. Hemans. 

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 
To the last syllable of recorded time; 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools, 
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! 
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 
And then is heard no more: it is a tale 
Told by an idiot,* full of sound and fury, 
Signifying nothing. 

Shake speai e . 

Hush! the Dead March wails in the people's ears: 
The dark crowd moves, and there are sobs and tears; 
The black earth yawns; the mortal disappears; 
Ashes to ashes! dust to dust! 



Tennyson, 



Then he gave the riven banner 
To the old man's shaking hand, 

Saying, "That is all I bring ye 
From the bravest of the land ! 

' Aye ! ye well may look upon it — 
There is more than honor there, 
Else, be sure, I had not brought it 
From the field of dark despair ! 

' Sirs ! I charge you, keep it holy,' 
Keep it as a sacred thing, 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 47 

For the stain you see upon it 

Was the hfe-blqod of your king !" 

Aytoun. 



VERY LOW. 



Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne 
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth 
Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world. 
Silence, how dead! and darkness, how profound! 
Nor eye, nor listening ear, an object finds; 
Creation sleeps. Tis as the general pulse 
Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause, 
An awful pause, prophetic of her end. 

Young. 

Eternity! — thou pleasing, dreadful thought! 
Through what variety of untried being, 
Through what new scenes and changes must we pass! 
The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me; 
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it. 

Adison. 

How ghastly the visage of death doth appear ! 

How frightful the thought of the shroud and the bier! 

And the blood-crested worm — how vile! 

Now o'er the one half world 
Nature seems dead; and wicked dreams abuse 
The curtained sleep; now witchcraft celebrates 
Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered murder, 
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf, 
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, 
Toward his design 

Moves like a ghost. — Thou sure and firm-set earth! 
Hear not my steps, which way they walk; for fear 



I48 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The very stones prate of my whereabout, 
And take the present horror from the time. 
Which now suits with it. 

Shakespeare. 

5. Thou breathest; — and the obedient storm is still, 
Thou speakest; — silent, the submissive wave: 
Man's shattered ship the rushing waters fill; 
And the hushed billows roll across his grave. 
Sourceless and endless God! compared with Thee, 
Life is a shadowy, momentary dream, 
And time, when viewed through Thy eternity, 
Less than the mote of morning's golden beam. 

FORCE. 

Force relates to the decree of energy, not to the man- 
ner of applying it ; the latter is the province of Stress, 
under which head the principal examples will be given. 

The degrees of force are, subdued, moderate, energetic 
and vehement. These include the intermediate degrees. 

LOUD AND ABRUPT FORCE. 

I . Dost thou come here to whine ? 

To outface me by leaping in her grave ? 
Be buried quick with her, and so will I; 
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them 
Throw millions of acres on us, till our ground, 
Singeing his pate against the burning zone, 
Make Ossa like a wart ! Nay, an thou'lt mouth, 
I'll rant as well as thou. 

Shakespeare. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 49 

2. Ho! cravens, do ye fear him? 

Slaves, traitors! have ye flown? 
Ho, cowards ! have ye left me 
To meet him here alone? 

A. G. Greene. 

SMOOTH AND SUBDUED FORCE. 

i . Leaves have their time to fall, 

And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath 

And stars to set; — but all, 
Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death! 

We know when moons shall wane, 
When summer birds from far shall cross the sea, 

When autumn's hue shall tinge the golden grain: 
But who shall teach us when to look for thee? 

Mrs. Hemans. 

2. She gets her answer from the child: soft fall the words from 

him; 
" Mother, the angels do so smile, and beckon little Jim; 
I have no pain, dear mother, now, but O ! I am so dry, 
Just moisten poor Jim's lips again, and, mother, don't you cry." 
With gentle, trembling haste she held the liquid to his lips; 
He smiled to thank her, as he took each little, tiny sip. 

IN SUSTAINED FORCE, 

The energy is kept up, or sustained, throughout the 
entire sentence or paragraph. The examples under 
Thorough Stress will be found good practice in sus- 
tained force. 

Force is the principal element in Emphasis. And 
since emphasis is so important a factor in the expression 
of thought and feeling, it will be best, before proceeding 
further, to give the following general rules : 



150 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 
RULES FOR ExMPHASIS. 

I. New and significant ideas should be emphasized. 
II. Contrasted ideas should be emphasized. 

examples under first rule. — 

1. Honor is the subject of my story. 

2. If Mr. A. is pronounced a religious man, the Cynic 
will reply : — "Yes, on Sundays." Mr. B. has just joined 
the church: — " Certainly, the elections are coming on." 
The ?ninister of the gospel is called an example of dili- 
genc e: — " It is his trade." Such a man is generous : — " Of 
other men's money." This man is obliging: — " To lull 
suspicion and cheat you." That man is upright: — "Be- 
cause he is green." H. W. Beecher. 

3. The feasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap, 

The hei'dsman, who climbed with his goats up the steep, 
The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread, 
Have faded away like the grass that we tread. 

The saint, who enjoyed the communion of Heaven, 
The sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven, 
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just, 
Have quietly mingled their bones with the dust. 

They loved, but the story we cannot unfold; 
They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold; 
They grieved, but no wail from their slumbers will come; 
They joyed, the tongue of their gladness is dumb. 

William Knox. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 151 

I'm thinking just now of A T obody, 

And all that Nobody's done, 
For I've a passion for Nobody, 

That nobody else would own; 
I bear the name of Nobody, 

For from Nobody I sprung; 
And I sing the praise of Nobody, 

As nobody mine has sung. 



EXAMPLES UNDER SECOND RULE. 

1 . Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves. 

2. Each morning sees some task begin, 

Each evening sees it close. 

3 . Yea ! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, 
We mingle together in sunshine and rain; 

And the smiles and the tears, the song and the dirge, 
Still follow each other like surge upon surge. 

William Knox. 

4. I will exert my endeavors, at whatever hazard, to 
repel the aggressor, and drag the thief to justice — what 
power soever may protect the villai?iy, and whoever may 
partake of the plimder. JVm. Pitt. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

1. The Cynic is one who never sees a good quality in 
a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the hu- 
man owl, vigilanf in darkness and blind to light, — mous- 
ing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. 

H. W. Beecher. 



I52 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

2. The meaning of an extraordinary man is, that he 
is eight men, not one man. That he has as much wit as 
if he had no sense, and as much sense as if he had no 
wit. That his conduct is as judicious as if he were the 
dullest of human beings, and his imagination as brilliant 
as if he were irretrievably ruined. Sidney Smith. 

3. Good-by to Flattery's fawning face; 

To Grandeur with his wise grimace; 
To upstart Wealth's averted eye; 
To supple Office, low and high; 
To crowded halls, to court and street,. 
To frozen hearts, and hasting feet, 
To those who go and those who come, 
Good-by, proud world, I'm going home. 

Emerson. 

4. If Napoleon's fortune was great, his genius was 
•transcendent ; decision flashed upon his counsels ; and 
it was the same to decide and to perform. To in- 
ferior intellects, his combinations appeared perfectly im- 
possible, his plans perfectly impracticable ; but, in his 
hands, simplicity marked their development, and success 
vindicated their adoption. Phillips. 

STRESS. 

Stress always falls upon the accented syllable of em- 
phatic words. 

When the greatest energy of voice is applied to the 
first 'part of the sound, it is called Radical Stress, (from 
radix, root): to the middle, the Median Stress: to the 
end, or terminus of the sound, the Terminal Stress. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 53 

While, practically, the different stresses gradually shade 
into each other, yet for purposes of explanation and prac- 
tice they are treated as distinct. 



monotone. - 



In Music, the monotone means a tone in which the 
pitch and force remain the same from commencement 
to close. 

In Elocution, it is to be taken in a modified sense ; 
the pitch and force varying — but slightly. 

The Monotone predominates in solemnity ; and is em- 
ployed to a limited degree in kindred emotions, such as 
awe, adoration and sublimity. 

1. Toll ! toll ! toll! 
Thou bell by billows swung. 

2. When thoughts 
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight 
Over thy spirit, and sad images 

Of the stern agony, and shroud and pall, 
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, 
Make thee shudder and grow sick at heart, 
Go forth under the open sky, and list 
To Nature's teachings. 

Bryant. 

3. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, 
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, 
And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 

Gray. 



154 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

4. Thou shalt not bear false witness — and thou hast I 
Thou shall not break thine oath — and thou hast ! Thou 
shalt not steal — and thou hast stolen my heart ! Thou 
shalt do no murder — and thou hast killed my virgin love 1 

"Deborah;" tr. by Cheltnam. 

5. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 

6. -I am thy father's spirit : 
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, 
And for the day confined to fast in fires, 

Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature, 
Are burnt and purged away. 

7 . As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so pant- 
eth my soul after thee, O God. 



MEDIAN STRESS. — O « 



In the Median stress, the tone is gradually increased 
to the middle, and as gradually diminished into silence. 
As employed in Elocution, the greatest force is nearer 
the close. 

This is the stress of sorrow. It is also used in joy and 
grief, if the joy be not too ecstatic nor the grief too 
poignant. It is also employed to a limited degree in the 
expression of sentiments of tenderness, and in pleasantry. 
In this form, it gives a rhythmical or undulating move- 
ment to the modulation. 

We have an exceptional use of this stress in revenge, 
in which the guttural quality of voice is employed. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 55 

I . Toll ! Roland, toll ; 

Bell never yet was hung, 
Between whose lips there swung 
So grand a tongue! 

Theo. Til ton. 

2. O the long and dreary winter! 
O the cold and cruel winter! 
O the famine and the fever ! 

O the wasting of the famine! 
O the blasting of the fever! 

Longfellow. 

3. Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness! 

4. Ah! why will Kings forget that they are men\ 
And men, that they are brethren\ 

5. Oh, my soul's joy \ 

If after every tempest come such calms, 

May the winds blow till they have wakened death. 

Shakespeare. 

6. Oh, soldier ! how sweetly sounds thy lady's lute ! 
how fragrant are the dew-sprinkled flowers that twine 
round the casement from which she leans ! That lute 
shall enchant thee, those flowers shall delight thee — no 
more ! 

7. Oh, young Lochinvar is come out of the west, 
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best ; 
And save his good broad sword he weapon had none, 
He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone. 

Scott. 

8. O, the magnanimity of Rome! 



156 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



EXPULSIVE RADICAL STRESS. A I 



In this the voice is pushed out on the "radical" or 
first part of the emphatic element. This stress is em- 
ployed in strong affirmation, in dignified oration, in com- 
mand, etc. 

In the practice of the following examples, the student 
should let the voice out freely upon the emphatic 
words, and in full, pure and resonant tone, — neither 
checking the sound nor crampi?ig the throat. The same 
directions should be observed in the practice of all the 
stresses. 

1. Arm\ warriors, arm! for the fight. 

2. This is my OWN, my native /and] 

3. Forth he came with a martial tread, 
Firm was his step, erect his head. 

4. What was Cxsar that stood upon the bank of that 
stream ? A traitor, bringing war and pestilence into the 
heart of that country. Knowles. 

5. Cowards die many times before their deaths, 
The valiant never taste of death but once ! 

6. Rise, fathers, rise! 'tis Rome demands your help ; 
Rise, and revenge her slaughtered citizens, 

Or share their fate ! 

Addison. 

7. O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome! 
Knew ye not Pompey ? 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 157 

8. And do we owe all this to the succor of the mother 
country ? No ! we owe it to the tyranny that drove us 
from her, to the pelting storms that invigorated our help- 
less infancy. Otis. 

9. Rise ! rise ! ye wild tempests, and cover his flight. 

10. Lay the proud usurper low ! 
Tyrants fall in every foe ! 
Liberty's in every blow ! 

Forward ! let us do or die ! 

Burns. 

1 1 . Blow on ! This is the land of liberty ! 

12. Away ! the bow is bent, make from the shaft. 

13. On, on to Rome we come ! The gladiators come ! 
Let Opulence tremble in all his palaces ! Let Oppres- 
sion shudder to think the oppressed may have their turn ! 
Let Cruelty turn pale at thought of redder hands than 
his ! O ! we shall not forget Rome's many lessons. She 
shall not find her training was all wasted upon indocile 
pupils. Now begone ! Prepare the Eternal City for our 
games ! 

EXPLOSIVE RADICAL STRESS.- 



This stress, as the name indicates, is an abrupt attack 
of the voice on the first part of the vocal element in em- 
phatic words, the sound usually diminishing to the close. 

The " radical " is not prolonged, however, when the 
emphatic element is a short vocal, or a long vocal short- 
ened to give greater intensity to expression. 



158 VOICE CULTURE AND LOCUTION. 

In the extreme use of this stress the student must care- 
fully control his voice in accordance with the directions 
on page 56, or a straining of the muscles of the throat 
may ensue. 

1. Go, call the people ! Obey ! I charge thee. 

2. "O, haste thee, haste ! "the lady cries, "though tempests 

round us gather, 
I'll meet the raging of the skies, but not an angry father." 

3. Behold ! these are the tribunes of the people. 

The tongues of the common mouth. I do despise them ! 

4. As a Roman, here in your very capital 
I do DEFY you ! 

5. Avaunt ! begone ! thou'st set me on the rack. 

6. Land I land ! cry the sailors. 

7. " Try not the Pass ! " the old man said, 
" Dark lowers the tempest overhead ; 

The roaring torrent is deep and wide ! " 
And loud that clarion voice replied, 
"Excelsior ! " 

Longfellow. 

8. My life upon her faith. 

9. Unmannered dog ! stand thou when I command : 
Advance thy halberd higher than thy breast, 

Or, by St. Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot, 
And spurn upon thee, beggar for thy boldness, 

Shakespeare. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 59 

10. I loathe you with my bosom ! 

I scorn you with mine eye ! 
And I'll taunt you with my latest breath, 

And fight you till I die ! 
I ne'er will ask for quarter, 

And I ne'er will be your slave; 
But I'll swim the sea of slaughter 

Till I sink beneath the wave. 

G. IV. Patten. 

11. Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; 
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit 
To his full height -! 

12. Hence, horrible shadow ! unreal mockery, hence ! 

13. With sudden start the miser wakes. 

14. Thou wretch ! — despite o'erwhelm thee. 

15. You common cry of curs ! whose breath I hate 
As reek o' the rotten fens, — whose loves I prize 
As the dead carcasses of unburied men, 

That do corrupt my air, — / banish you ! 

TERMINAL STRESS. 

The Terminal Stress is the reverse of the Explosive 
Radical. As its name implies, the greatest energy is 
upon the terminus of the emphatic element It is em- 
ployed in emotions of surprise, fright, peevishness and 
impatience. 

1. What ! Is it possible? 

2. Ah ! — Mercy on my soul ! What is that ? My old 
friend's ghost? 



l6o VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

3. I, an itching palm? 

4. Out of my sight ! 

5. Why, look you, I am whipped and scourged with rods, 
Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear 

Of this vile politician Bolingbroke ! 

6. I'll have my bond ; I will not hear thee speak : 
I'll have my bond ; and therefore speak no more. 
I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, 

To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield 
To Christian intercessors. 



COMPOUND STRESS, 



CXI 



This stress is a union of the Radical and Terminal. It 
is used in intense forms of surprise, sarcasm, contempt, 
mockery, impatience, pain, hatred, wrath and revenge. 

This stress is as difficult to analyze, as the passions 
that employ it are difficult to express. The time is so 
brief between the Radical and the Terminal, that a little 
lengthening of the tone is generally necessary to enable 
the ear to distinguish the separate impulses of the voice. 

Gone to be married ! Gone to swear a peace ! 

False blood to false blood joined] Gone to be friends! 

Back slaves! I will return! 

"Traitor" ! I go ; but I return. This — trial ! 
Here I devote your senate! 



O kill me and put me out of my pain! 
Gods] if I could only paint a dying groan ! 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. l6l 

6. " Tried and convicted traitor! " — who says this? 

Who'll prove it at his peril on my head ? 

7. And do you now strew flowers in his way, 
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood ? 

8. For theml — I cannot do it to the gods ; 
Must I then do't to them ? 

9. " My father's trade! Bless me, that's too bad! 
My father's trade ? Why, blockhead, are you mad ? 
My father, sir, did never stoop so low — 

He was a gentleman, I'd have you know." 

Anon. 

10 0,ye gods, ye gods \ Must I endure all this ? 

1 1 . Must I go show them my unbarb'd sconce ? Must /, 
With my base tongue give to my noble heart 
A lie, that I must bear ? 

12 Mend, and charge home ! 

Or by the fires of heaven, I'll leave the foe, 
And make my wars on you: Look to it : Come on ! 



THOROUGH STRESS. A 



This stress is an application of force in which the en- 
ergy is sustained equally throughout the emphatic ele- 
ment. It is used in rapture, triumph, command, shout- 
ing, calling, &rc. 

In passages of Sustained Force, this stress continues 
throughout. 

I . " Forward, the Light Brigade ! 

Charge for the guns ! " he said. 



1 62 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

2. Ho ! sound the tocsin from the tower, 

And fire the culverin ! — 
Eid each retainer arm with speed — 
Call every vassal in ! 

A. G. Greene. 

3. " Ring ! " he shouts, " Ring ! grandpapa, 

Ring ! oh, ring for Liberty ! " 

4. Io ! they come, they come ! garlands for every shrine ! 
Strike lyres to greet them home ! bring roses, pour ye wine \ 
Swell, swell the Dorian flute, through the blue, triumphant 

sky ! 
Let the Cittern's tone salute tbe song of victory. 
With the offering of bright blood, they have ransomed hearth 

and tomb, 
Vineyard, and field, and flood ; — Io ! they come, they come ! 

Mrs. He mans. 

5. Blow, wind ! come, wrack ! 

At least we'll die with harness on our back. 

6. List to your tribunes; audience ! Peace, I say ! 

7. To the rock; to the rock with him ! 

8. A voice came down the wild wind, — 

" Ho ! ship ahoy ! " its cry : 
" Our stout ' Three Bells of Glasgow ' 
Shall stand till daylight by ! ' 

Whittier. 

9. The sea, the sea ! — the open sea ! 
The blue, the fresh, the ever free ! 
Without a mark, without a bound, 

It runneth the earth's wide regions round ! 

Barry Cornwall. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 63 

10. " Jump ! far out, boy, into the wave, 

Jump, or I fire ! " he said ; 
" This chance alone your life can save, 
Jump ! jump ! ; ' the boy obeyed. 

Geo, P. Morris. 

1 1 . Let every Highland glen 
Send our shout back again, 

" Roderigh Vich Alpine dhn, ho ! ieroe ! " 

INTERMITTENT STRESS. — O <X^-wv^^~>^ 

The Intermittent Stress is a trembling of the~Voice 
caused by intense feeling. In music, it is known as the 
"tremor" and the "tremolo." It is employed in grief, 
pity, weakness, tenderness, ecstasy, and in excessive de- 
grees of malignant passions. 

1 . Ah ! life is a journey of wearisome hours, 

That the rose of enjoyment but seldom adorns ; 

And the heart that is soonest alive to the flowers, 

Is always the first to be touched by the thorns. 

Anon. 

2. Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, 

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, 
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span ; 
Oh ! give relief, and Heav'n will bless your store. 

TJios. Moss. 

3. Dear master, I can go no further, O, I die for food ! 
Here lie I down, and measure out my grave. Farewell, 
kind master. 

Shakespeare. 



164 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

4- O, 

My God ! can it be possible I have 

To die so suddenly ? So young to go 

Under the obscure, cold, rotting, wormy ground ! 

To be nailed down into a narrow place ; 

To see no more sweet sunshine ; hear no more 

Blithe voice of living thing ; muse not again 

Upon familiar thoughts, sad, yet thus lost, — 

How fearful ! 

Shelley. 

5. " Oh, master ! make my father free ! " — 
" Him and thyself, my noble boy ! " 

Warmly the painter cried. 

Susan Wilson. 

6. "Why wouldst thou leave me, O gentle child ? 

Thy home on the mountain is bleak and wild." 
" O green is the turf where my brothers play, 
Through the long, bright hours of the summer day; 
They find the red cup-moss where they climb, 
And they chase the bee o'er the scented thyme, 
And the rocks where the heath-flower blooms they know- 
Lady, kind lady, oh, let me go ! " 

Mrs. He mans. 

7 . O the banks of the Lee, the banks of the Lee, 
And love in a cottage for Mary and me ! 
I know not how love is happy elsewhere, 
I know not how any but lovers are there. 

Burns. 

Farewell the tranquil mind ! farewell content ! 
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars, 
That make ambition virtue ! Oh, farewell ! 

Shakespeare. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 65 

9. Oh ! this spleen swells upwards to my he"art, 

And heaves for passage ! Down, thou climbing rage, 
Thy element's below. Where is my daughter? 

Shakespeare. 

10. Call me their traitor! Thou injurious tribune ! 
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths, 
In thy hands clutch'd as many millions, in 
Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say, 
Thou liest, unto thee, with a voice as free 

As I do pray the gods. 

Shakespeare. 

1 1 . Happy ! Very, very happy ! 

You see I weep, I am so happy ! Tears 

Are signs you know, of naught but happiness ! 

When first I saw you, little did I look 

To be so happy! Clifford ! 

/. Sheridan Knowles. 

12. Oh, if I could only make you see 

The clear blue eyes, the tender smile, 
The sovereign sweetness, the gentle grace, 
The woman's soul, and the angel's face 
That are beaming on me all the while, 
I need not speak these foolish words : 
Yet one word tells you all I would say, — 
She is my mother : You will agree 

That all the rest may be thrown away. 

Alice Cary. 



I 66 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

LAUGHTER. 

Laughter employs the abrupt stresses. It is as capa- 
ble of development and culture as the other means of 
expression. Not only may individual laughter be en- 
couraged and improved, but through practice different 
kinds may be learned for purposes of personation. 
Laughter — earnest, hearty laughter — is a health-promot- 
ing exercise, and one of the best means for strengthening 
the lungs. 

As a preparatory practice, review exercise "8," page 
62. 

A tabulated arrangement of the different kinds of 
laughter is given below, and may be practiced as follows : 

First, simply as a vocal drill, then with full expression 
of hearty laughter. The opening vowel should be pro- 
longed obscurely, and the syllable repeated six or more 
times in quick succession, as shown in the table below. 











rABLE VII. 




I 


e 


hi 


hi 


hi 


hi 


hi 


hi ! 


2 


a 


he 


he 


he 


he 


he 


he ! 


3 


a 


ha 


ha 


ha 


ha 


ha 


ha ! 


4 


a 


ha 


ha 


ha 


ha 


ha 


ha ! 


5 


a 


ho 


ho 


ho 


ho 


ho 


ho ! 


6 





hu 


hu 


hu 


hu 


hu 


hu ! 


7 





ho 


ho 


ho 


ho 


ho 


ho ! 



No. 1, in the above table, represents the "giggle." 
The syllables in this laughter should be given in a high 
pitch and a light quality of voice. 

Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6, may be called models, of which 
No. 4 is especially open and hearty. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 67 

No. 5, represents a coarse, uncultured laugh that is 
known as the "horse laugh," or boorish laugh. 

No. 7, when given in a close, contracted, husky voice, 
represents the laugh of the miser. 

When given in the aspirated orotund quality and on 
a low or very low pitch, it is the sepulchral or ghostly 
laugh. 

Laughter, however, depends largely upon the quality 
of voice for significance and expression, and it 
is by no means limited to the above syllables, but it 
sometimes accompanies the syllables and words of an en- 
tire sentence. 

The following selections should be read with the ani- 
mation and laughing expression which the sense requires. 

1. Sir Harcourt fallen desperately in love with me? 
With me ! That is delicious ! Ah — ha ! ha ! ha ! I see 
my cue. I'll cross his scent — I'll draw him after me. 
Ho ! ho ! won't I make love to him ? Ha ! — Here they 
come to dinner. I'll commence my operations on 
the governor immediately. Ha ! ha ! ha ! how I will 
enjoy it ! 

Boucicault 

2. Ye'll be nowt but skeen and boans, if you stop here 
long eneaf. Haw ! haw ! haw ! 

Dickens. 

3. 'Twas but last week I rode a day's sport after twen- 
ty couple of hounds — staunch tartars as ever barked or 
run a course — took a flying leap across a stream — dashed 
through two quicksets, and leaped three five-barred gates ! 
We started Reynard before eight — had a view-halloo by 
ten — tallyho ! ho, ho ! At eleven we took to the water — 
we plunged after — crossed the Thames — up the hill — 



1 68 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

down the valley — over hedge, ditch, and gate we go, 
helter, skelter ! At twelve the whole pack close in with 
him — you might cover them with a tablecloth — and we 
killed him exactly at nineteen minutes, three seconds af- 
ter one ! 

-R. /. Raymond. 

4. When lads and lasses merry be, 

With possets and with junkets fine ; 
Unseen of all the company, 

I eat their cakes and sip their wine ! 

And, to make sport, 

I puff and snort : % 

And out the candles I do blow : 

The maids I kiss, 

They shriek — Who's this ? 
I answer nought but ho, ho, ho ! 

5. There's not a hag 
Or ghost shall wag, 

Or cry, 'ware goblins ! where I go ; 

But Robin I 

Their feats will spy, 
And send them home with hoo, hoo, hoo ! 

6. " What are you looking at Oliver ? At all those 
handkerchiefs? — There are a good many of 'em, ain't 
there? We've just looked 'em out ready for the wash. 
Ho, ho, ho ; — 6b hoo, hoo, hoo ! " 

Dickens. 

INFLECTION. 

Changes in pitch are made in two ways, by skip and 
by slide. The former is technically called the discrete , 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 69 

the latter the concrete movement of the voice. The dis- 
crete predominates in Music, the concrete in Speech. In 
elocution, the slides of the voice are called inflections, 
and are the principal means by which the lights and 
shades of thought and feeling are expressed. 

The rising and falling slides are capable of innumera- 
ble combinations. 

The rising inflection appeals, the falling asserts. The 
rising defers to the judgment of the person addressed, 
the falling declares the judgment of the speaker. 

The rising inflection^ is marked thus ( ' ), the falling, 
thus ( N ). The union of these two gives the falling cir- 
cumflex ;lhe union of the falling and the rising; inflections 
gives the rising circumflex. The union of the falling 
and the rising circumflexes gives the compound rising 
circumflex ; the union of the rising circumflex and the 
falling circumflex gives the compound falling circumflex. 

It will be noticed that the final direction of the slide 
determines the name of the inflection. 

The slides of voice vary in length from a half tone to 
an octave or more, depending on the degree of energy. 

No absolute or infallible directions can be given^for 
the employment of inflection, but tne following may serve 
as 

GENERAL RULES. — 

I. Positive ideas take the falling slide. 

II. Negative and conditional ideas take the rising 
slide. 



170 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



EXAMPLES UNDER FIRST RULE. 

1. False Wizard, avaunt v ! I have marshaled my clan N ; 
Their swords are a thousand^, their bosoms are one N ! 

2. Silence v that dreadful belP ! it frights the isle 
From her propriety\ 

3. Strike^ ! — till the last armed foe expires v ; 
Strike^ ! — for your altars x and your fires N ; 
Strike N ! — for the green graves of your sires ; 

God\ and your native land v ! 

K Hal leek. 

4. Be just x and fear not\ 
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's', 

Thy God's \ and truth's N ; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, 
Thou falPst a blessed martyr \ 

Shakespeate. 

EXAMPLES UNDER SECOND RULE. 

I . Not from the grand old masters 7 , 

Not from the bards sublime 7 ,. 
Whose distant footsteps echo 

Through the corridors of Time 7 . 

Longfelloiv . 

2. I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the 
union, to see what might' lie hidden in the dark recess 
behind'. I have not coolly weighed the chances of pre- 
serving liberty, when the bonds that unite us together 
shall be broken asunder/ I have not accustomed myself 
to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, 
with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss 
below' ; nor could I regard him as a safe counselor in 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 171 

the affairs of this government, whose thoughts should be 
mainly bent on considering, not how the union should be 
preserved", but how tolerable might be the condition of 
the people, when it shall be broken up and destroyed. 

Webster. 

3. If we fail, it can be no worse for us'. 

4. I will wait for you in the corridor, if you do not 
stay too long'. 

MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES. 

i. It is in studying as in eating, — he that does it gets 
the benefit^ and not he that sees it done. 

2. Not that I loved Caesar less', but Rome more'. 

3. Not enjoyment 7 , and not sorrow', 

Is our destined end or way 7 , 

But to act, that each to-morrow 

Find us farther than to-day \ 

Longfellow . 

4. Whence the wind blows, where the wind goes, 

Hither and thither and whither — who knows v ? 

Who knows x ? 
Hither' and thither 1 ' — but whither 7 — who knows' ? 

/. F. Waller. 

5. Who was her father' ? 
Who was her mother ? 
Had she a sister 7 ? 
Had she a brother 7 ? 

Or was there a dearer one 
Still, and a nearer one 
Yet, than all other ? 

Hood- 



172 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

6. We ? Ha ! ha ! you hear, 

My liege ! What page, man, in the last court grammar 
Made you a plural ? Count, you have seized fhe hireling"'. — 
Sire, shall I name the master' ? 

Bulwer. 

7. How many waste their lives and fritter away their 
manhood and womanhood in the everlasting query, 
"What'll they think?" It arranges all their household, 
fashions their drawing-rooms, their feasts, their equipage, 
their garments, their sociality, their religion, their every- 
thing ! Poor hampered souls ! 

Society abounds in such. Men are often enough of 
the lot, but women oftener. They have lost all desire to 
be independent. It is how will the Priggses look at it, 
that determines them. They must do just as the Priggses 
do. Out upon the Priggses and all their retinue. Let 
us have done with "What'll they think? " and bury it 
with the corpses of the bowing, scraping, cringing, and 
fawning of feudal days and universal slave ages. 

Anon. 



Cadence is a fall of the voice in reading or speaking 
made either by skip or slide, generally by the latter. The 
term is usually applied to that descent of the voice at the 
end of a sentence which denotes completeness of sense. 
The length of the skip or slide in cadence is determined 
(as with the other inflections) by the nature of the thought 
and the energy and earnestness of the expression. 

The cadence or "full stop " in reading is not limited 
to the grammatical sentence, but when the sense is suf- 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 73 

ficiently complete is often made at the end of a clause or 
an auxiliary sentence. 

1. One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, 
five, six, seven. 

2. Heaped upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, 
were turkeys, geese, game, brawn, great joints of meat, 
sucking pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum- 
puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry- 
cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense 
twelfth-cakes, and great bowls of punch. 

Dickens 

3. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suf- 
fering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. 

4. He shudders — gasps — Jove help him — so he's dead ! 

5. One Country, one Constitution, one Destiny. 

6. I was born an American, I \We an American, I 
shall die an American. 

7 . But oh, what damned minutes tells he o'er, 

Who dotes, yet doubts ; suspects, yet strongly loves ! 

8. , He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, 

Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffin'd, and unknown. 

9. Give thy thoughts no tongue, 
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. 
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 
The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, 
Grapple them to tby soul with hoops of steel. 

Shakespeare. 



174 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. , 



TIME. 



As already defined, Time relates to duration. Its el- 
ements are Quantity, Movement and Pause. 

QUANTITY. 

Quantity relates to the duration of voice upon an ele- 
ment, syllable, or word. 

Practice the following words in different degrees of 
pitch and with varied force and inflection. 



Long 


Quantity. — 




eve 


serene 


meteor 


tame 


nature 


favorite 


care 


staircase 


parentage 


palm 


plaza 


armament 


awe 


always 


awkwardly 


home 


homeward 


potato 


prove 


toothache 


voodooism 


tide 


tyro 


iodine 


poise 


jointure 


voyager 


thou 


coward 


outlawry 


new 


future 


utilize 


Short 


Quantity. — 




it 


pretty 


pitying 


pen 


revel 


fretfulness 


earth 


perfect 


terminal 


ant 


cattle 


canvassing 


task 


fasten 


craftily 


fop 


folly 


pottery 


cup 


dusty 


buttercup 


foot 


brooklet 


womanly 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. ■ 175 

MOVEMENT. 

Movement relates to the degree of rapidity with which 
the successive words in the sentence are delivered. It 
is dependent upon Quantity and Pause. 

Slow.— 

1. Some, o'er the tongue the labored measures roll, 
Slow and deliberate as the parting toll ; 

Point every stop, mark every pause so strong, 
Their words, like stage processions, stalk along. 

Lloyd. 

2. Thou unrelenting Past ! 
Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain, 

And fetters, sure. and fast, 
Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign. 

Thou hast my better years, 
Thou hast my earlier friends — the good — the kind, 

Yielded to thee with tears — 
The venerable form — the exalted mind. 



Bryant. 



. O thou Eternal One ! whose presence bright 
All space doth occupy, all motion guide — 

Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight ! 
Thou only God — there is no God beside ! 

Being above all beings ! Mighty one, 

Whom none can comprehend, and none explore ! 

Who fill's t existence with Thyself alone — 
Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er, — 
Being whom we call God, — and know no more. 
Thy word created all, and doth create ; 

Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine ; 



176 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Thou art, and wert, and shall be ! Glorious ! Great ! 
Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate ! 

God ! thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar, 
Thus seek Thy presence — Being wise and good ! 

Midst Thy vast works admire, obey, adore ; 
The soul shall speak in tears of gratitude. 

Derzhavin . 

4. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all gen- 
erations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or 
ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even 
from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 

Psalms. 



Moderate.- 



Lowliness is young ambition's ladder, 
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face ; 
But when he once attains the upmost round, 
He then unto the ladder turns his back, 
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees 
By which he did ascend. 

Shakespeare 

In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves 
For a bright manhood, there is no such word 
As— fail. 

Buhner. 

* There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; 
Omitted, all the voyage ot their life 
Is bound in shallows, and in miseries. 

Shakespeare 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. I 77 

4. Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern 
make .the field ring with their . importunate chink, whilst 
thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of 
the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not 
imagine that those who make the noise are the only in- 
habitants of the field. 

Burke. 

Quick. — 

1 . Quick ! man the life-boat ! See yon bark 

That drives before the blast ! 
There's a rock ahead, the night is dark, 
And the storm comes thick and fast. 
Can human power in such an hour, 
Avert the doom that's o'er her ? 
Her mainmast's gone, but she still drives on 
To the fatal reef before her, 

The life-boat ! Man the life-boat ! 

2. Now you see the water foaming all around. See 
how fast you pass that point ! Up with the helm ? Now 
turn ! Pull hard ! quick ! quick ! quick ! pull for your 
lives ! pull till the blood starts from your nostrils, and the 
veins stand like whip-cords upon your brow ! Set the 
mast in the socket ! hoist the sail ! ah ! ah ! it is too late ! 
Shrieking, cursing, howling, blaspheming • over they go. 

Gough. 

3. Hear the sledges with the bells — 

Silver bells — 

What a world of merriment their melody foretells ! 

How they tinkle tinkle, tinkle, 

In the icy air of night ! 



178 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

While the stars that oversprinkle 

All the heavens, seem to twinkle 

With a crystalline delight. 



Poe. 



Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee 
Jest and youthful jollity, 
Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles, 
Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles, 
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, 
And love to live in dimple sleek ; 
Sport, that wrinkled care derides, 
And Laughter holding both his sides. 
Come, and trip it as ye go 
On the light fantastic toe. 

Milton. 

A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 
And beneath from the pebbles in passing, a spark 
Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet. 

Longfellow . 

Away ! — away ! and on we dash ! 
Torrents less rapid and less rash. 
Away, away, my steed and I, 
Upon the pinions of the wind, 
All human dwellings left behind ; 
We speed like meteors through the sky, 
When with its crackling sound the night 
Is chequer'd with the northern light. 

Byron. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 79 



PAUSE. 

Pause is the rest or cessation of voice, separating words, 
clauses, and sentences in reading and speaking, to render 
thought and feeling more intelligible and more impressive. 

The grammatical construction of language is indicated 
by marks of punctuation ; the rhetorical construction by 
pauses. Between these is a correspondence which makes 
the punctuation marks a general, but not an absolute 
guide in reading. The longer pauses are usually made 
where these marks occur ; but pauses are often made 
where they do not occur, though generally of shorter du- 
ration. 

Since Pause and Movement are elements of Time, the 
length of the pause is determined by the rate of the 
movement : Slow movement calling for long pauses, and 
rapid movement for short pauses. 

RHETORICAL PAUSE. 

The Rhetorical Pause is a term applied to those pauses 
which generally occur where there are no grammatical 
separations. The more important of them are made, 

First, where there is a sudden interruption or change 
in the thought or emotion; 

Second, where words are omitted to avoid repetition, 
to give terseness to the expression, or to shorten the line 
in metrical composition; and, 

Fourth, where the pause is made before the utterance 
of important thought to excite curiosity or expectancy ; 
or after to give the hearer time to grasp the full meaning 
of the emphatic idea. 



l8o VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

i. If it live in your memory, begin at this line : let 
me see ; let me see, — 

The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast, — 
'Tis not so;— it begins with "Pyrrhus." 

Shakespeare. 

2. Ay, sir, but while the grass grows, — the proverb is 
something musty. 

3. And those who rode foremost in its field at morning 
— where are they now ? 

4. Unpleasant ! — well, I should smile — I mean I 
should weep. 

5. Some — place the bliss in action, some — in ease; 
Those call it pleasure, and — contentment, these. 

6. He plunged, he crossed, and Rome was free — no 
more ! 

7. Hush ! — silence along the lines there. 

8. The scarf on his breast — she who placed it there 
would shrink but to touch it now. 

9. Thou art thyself thine enemy : 

The great ! — what better they than thou ? 
As theirs, is not thy will as free? 
Has God with equal favors thee 
Neglected to endow ? 

True, wealth thou hast not — 'tis but dust : 

Nor place — uncertain as the wind; 
But that thou hast, which with thy crust 
And water may despise the lust 
Of both — a noble mind. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 151 

io. Her neck is bared — the blow is struck — the soul is passed 
away! 
The bright — the beautiful, is now a piece of bleeding clay! 

1 1 . Low, murmuring sounds along their banners fly, 
" Revenge or death! " — their watchword and reply. 

12. O God! what emotions the speaker awoke; 

A mortal he seemed — yet a deity spoke ; 
A man— yet so far from humanity riven; 
On earth — yet so closely connected with heaven. 

Mrs. Welby. 

13. Put out the light, and then — put out ^flight? 
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, 

I can again thy former light restore, 
Should I repent me; but once put out thine, 
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, 
I know not where is that Promethean heat 
That can thy light relume. 

Shakespeare. 

There is a cessation or rest of the voice that some- 
times occurs in poetic verse called the 

CESURAL PAUSE. 

1. Hope springs eternal | in the human breast. 

2. Pealed their first notes 1 to sound the march of time. 

3. On beds of green sea-flowers | thy limbs shall be laid, 

Around thy white bones | the red coral shall grow; 
Of thy fair yellow locks | threads of amber be made, 
And every part suit f to thy mansion below. 

Dimond. 



152 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

In the reading of metrical composition, avoid a sing- 
song movement of the voice. While there is a rhythm in 
poetry that should be observed, the sense should never 
be sacrificed to the measure. 

grouping. — 

Grouping of thought is a vocal analysis that holds 
about the same relation to spoken language as grammat- 
ical analysis does to written. 

The elements with which Grouping is chiefly concerned 
are Pitch, Pause, Time and Stress. By means of these, 
the leading and subordinate ideas of the sentence may be 
given their relative value. The leading thought or state- 
ment should be placed, as it were, in the foreground of 
the rhetorical perspective ; the less important in- the 
more remote or middle-ground ; and the least important 
or " parenthetic " ideas in the background of the rhetor- 
ical perspective. 

To show the value of this principle, and the import- 
ance of " rhetorical analysis " to correct reading and speak- 
ing, read the following sentence, first, with uniform empha- 
sis, pitch and time, and without pause, and note the con- 
fusion of ideas. Then read it with the required empha- 
sis, pause, &c, as indicated. 

It was the owl that shrieked the fatal bell-man 
Which gives the stern'st good-night. 

It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bell-man, 
Which gives the stern'st good- night '. 

Practice the following examples until every shade in 
the expression of the thought and feeling is clearly brought 
out. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 83 

1 . Perhaps you may have seen, some day, 
Roses crowding the self-same way, 
Out of a wilding, way-side bush. 

Alice Cary. 

2. The oak one day addressed the reed : — 
To you ungenerous indeed 

Has nature been, my humble friend, 
With weakness aye obliged to bend. 

La Fontaine. 

3. But knowledge to their eyes her ample page, 

Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er enroll ; 
Chill penury repressed their noble rage, 
A.nd froze the genial current of the soul. 

Gray. 

4. Yet, by your gracious patience, 

I will a round, unvarnished tale deliver 
Of my whole course of love. 

Shakespeare. 

5 . Yet this is Rome, 

That sat on her seven hills, and, from her throne 
Of beauty, ruled the world ! Yet we are Romans ! 

Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman, 
Was greater than a king ! 

Shakespeare. 

6. The atrocious crime of being a young man, which, 
with so much spirit and decency, the honorable gentle- 
man has charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to pal- 
liate nor deny. 

Pitt. 



I #4 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

7. Forth march'd the chief, and, distant from the crowd, 
High on the rampart raised his voice aloud. 

As the loud trumpet's brazen mouth from far, 
With shrilling clangor sounds th' alarm of war ; 
So high his dreadful voice the hero rear'd ; 
Hosts dropp'd their arms, and trembled as they heard. 

Pope's Homer. 

8. She never told her love, 

But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 
Feed on her damask cheek. 

Shakespeare. 

9. Nature to each allots his proper sphere, 
But that forsaken, we like comets err, 

Toss'd through the void, by some rude shock we're broke, 
And all our boasted fire is lost in smoke. 

Congreve. 

10. Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt; 
And every laugh so merry draws one out. 

11. In Macbeth, for the sake of gratifying his own 
enormous and teeming faculty of creation, Shakespeare 
has introduced two murderers ; and, as usual in his 
hands, they are remarkably discriminated ; but, though 
in Macbeth the strife of mind is greater than in his wife, 
the tiger spirit not so awake, and his feeling caught 
chiefly by contagion from her — yet, as both are finally 
involved in the guilt of murder, the murderous mind of 
necessity is finally to be presumed in both. 

De Quincey. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 85 

12. And, Douglas, more I tell thee here, 

Even in thy pitch of pride, 
Here, in thy hold, thy vassals near, 
(Nay, never look upon your lord, 
And lay your hand upon your sword,) 

I tell thee, thou 'rt defied ! 

Scott. 

13. Go, preach to the coward, thou death-telling seer, 
Or, if gory Culloden so dreadful appear, 

Draw, dotard, around thy old wavering sight, 
This mantle, to cover the phantoms of fright. 

Campbell, 

EMPHASIS. 

Emphasis, in its widest signification, comprehends the 
various vocal means by which thought and emotion are 
made significant and impressive. Emphasis is given in 
the following three ways : 

I. by force. — 

Back to thy punishment. 

II. BY TIME.— 

He gave one long lingering look behind. 

III. BY SLIDE. 

1. I come to bu'ry' Caesar, not to prai /v se him . 

2. 0' s , cer'tainly\ the elections are coming on . 

3. Thou fortune V champion, thou dost never fight / 
But when her humorous lady ship is by 

To teach thee safe / ty x ! 



1 86 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The above means for giving emphasis are generally 
used in conjunction, and when so used, one of them 
usually predominates and characterizes the emphasis. 

Force predominates in impassioned thought. 

Time, in the expression of solemnity, awe, sublimity, 
reverence, endearment, &c, and to denote long time 
and great distance. 

Slide predominates in contrasted ideas, in irony, rid- 
icule, &c, and generally in scorn. 

The practical application of the foregoing rules and 
principles will be found in the following sentences. 

1 . Roiise, ye Romans ! ROUSE, ye slaves ! 

2 . From every hill, by every sea, 

In shouts proclaim the great decree, 
" All chains are burst, all men are free! 
Hurrah, hurrah, HURRAH! " 

3. The war is inevitable, and let it come! I repeat it, 
sir, LET it come ! 

4. Come, consecrated Lictors, from your thrones ; 
Fling down your scepters; take the rod and axe, 
And make the murder, as you make the law! 

5. Cry " Havock! " and let slip the dogs of war. 

6. Arm, gentlemen, to arms! for I have thrown 
A brave defiance in King Henry's teeth. 
Now, by my sword, I will kill all his coats; 
I'll murder all his wardrobe piece by piece, 
Until I meet the king. 

Shakespeare. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. * 1 87 

Up, and away ; 
Our soldiers stand full fairly for the day. 

He loosed the steed — his slack hand fell — upon the silent 

face 
He cast one long deep troubled look, then 

turned from that sad place ! 

Mrs. He mans. 

Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er, 

Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking ; 
Dream of battle-fields no more, 

Days of danger, nights of waking. 
In our isle's enchanted hall, 

Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, 
Fairy strains of music fall, 

Every sense in slumber dewing. 

Scott. 

See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand ! 
O, that I were a glove upon that hand, 
That I might touch that cheek ! 

Shakespeare . 

O Romeo, Romeo ! wherefore art thou Romeo ? 

Thou glorious mirror ! where the Almighty's form 
Glasses itself in tempests ; in all time, 
Calm or convulsed, — in breeze, or gale, or storm, — 
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime 
Dark-heaving : — boundless, endless, and sublime ! 

Byron. 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

« 
And louder yet into Winchester rolled 
The roar of that red sea uncontrolled, 
Making the blood of the listener cold, 
As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray, 
And Sheridan twenty miles away! 

T. B. Read. 

The time is long past, and the scene is afar, 
Yet, when my head rests on its pillow, 

Will memory sometimes rekindle the star 
That blazed on the breast of the billow. 

Moore. 

We live in deeds", not years v ; in thought\ not breath' ; 
In feelings \ not in figures on a dial'. 
We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. 

B y alley 's Festus. 

They come, and to my beard they dare 

To tell me now, that I, 
Their own liege lord and master born — 

That I — ha ! ha ! — must die ! 

A. G. Greene. 

For he made me mad 
To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, 
And talk so like a waiting gentlewoman, 
Of guns, and drums, and wounds—heaven save the mark- 
And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth 
Was spermaceti — for an inward bruise. 

Shakespeare. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. I 69 

18. "Thou art a cobbler', art thou 7 ?" 

" Truly, sir, all' that I live by is with the awl" '." 

19, "Very well, ma'am, very well ! So a husband is 
to have no influence — no authority ! " 

" Authority^' ? No"\ to be sure ! If you wanted author- 
ity'"' over me, you should have adopted'*" me, and not 
married" me ; I am sure you were old' x enough." 

R. B. Sheridan. 

ANTITHESIS. 

x\ntithesis relates to words and sentiments contrasted 
or opposed in meaning. 

The antithesis of ideas is brought out by emphasis,;ac- 
cording to the rule already given for " contrasted ideas." 
Emphasis by modulation or slide characterizes the expres- 
sion of antithetic thought. A change of inflection gen- 
erally occurs in the emphasis of ideas opposed in mean- 
ing. The contrasted idea is sometimes implied. 

Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. 

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. 

Give it an understanding, but no tongue. 

I mus*t be cruel, only to be kind : 

Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. 

Oar new heraldry is — hands, not hearts. 

Love looks no: with the eyes, but with the mind, 
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind. 

They jest at scars who never felt a wound. 



I90 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

8. Friendship was in their looks, but in their hearts there was 

hatred. 

9. There is misery in want, and danger in excess. 

10. " In God's name, what art thou ?" 
" A man, as you are." 

" But not, as I am, royal." 
" Nor you, as we are, loyal." 

11. " Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble. ' 
" My voice is now the king's, my looks mine own." 

12. " If you are hired for meed, go back again, 

And I will send you to my brother Gloster ; 
Who will reward you better for my life, 
Than Edward will for tidings of my death." 

Shakespeare. 

13. You will find it less easy to uproot faults than to 
choke them by gaining virtues. 

14. A maiden's wrath has two eyes — one blind, the 
other keener than a falcon's. 

15. The storm that rends the oak, uproots the flower. 

16. My stupor was almost a heaven ; 

My waking, almost a hell. 

17. Man cannot make — but may ennoble fate, 
By nobly bearing it. So let us trust, 

Not to ourselves, but God, and calmly wait 
Love's orient out of darkness and of dust. 

Oiven Meredith. 

18. Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes, 
And men grow better as the world grows old. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 191 

19. When I was out of society, I was paid light for 
being seen ; when I went into society, I paid heavy for 
being seen. 

20. They follow an adventurer whom they fear, and 
obey a power which they hate ; we serve a monarch whom 
we love, a God whom we adore. 

R. B. Sheridan. 

21. I feel the impulse — yet I do not plunge ; 
I see the peril — yet do not recede ; 

And my brain reels — and yet my foot is firm. 

Byron. 

22. It was midnight when I listened, 

And I heard two voices speak ; 
One was harsh, and stern, and cruel, 
And the other soft and weak. 

Adelaide A. Proctor. 

EMPHATIC REPETITION. 

When words are repeated for the sake of emphasis, 
they should be given with increased energy at each repe- 
tition. 

1 . Seize, seize the traitor ! 

2. Weapons, weapons, weapons ! 

3. Help, Marcus, HELP ! 

You would be noble : help him, young and old ! 

4. Peace, peace, peace ; stay, hold peace ! 

5. Rise ! oh RISE ! 

Sound, sound, that all the universe may hear ! 



192 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



O horror ! horror ! HORROR ! 
Tongue cannot conceive, nor name thee ! 

Shakespeare. 

Alas ! alas ! I know not : 

Friend and foe together fall, 
O'er the dying rush the living : 

Pray, my sisters, pray for all ! 



Whittier. 



Vain, vain ! give o'er. 

Half a league, half a league, 
Half a league onward, 
All in the valley of Death 
Rode the six hundred. 



Tennyson. 



Rise, rise ! even now thy father comes, a ransomed man, 

this day ! 
Mount thy good horse ; and thou and I will meet him on 
his way. 
„ Mrs. Hemans. 

I tell you that which you yourselves do know — 

Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths, 

And bid them speak for me. 

Shakespeare. 

Off, off, you base and hireling pack ! 

Room, my lords, room ! The minister of France 
Can need no intercession with the king. 

Bultver. 

O ! base, base, base ! 
This pardons Herod in the eye of heaven. 
Sir, I won't hear a word, not a word ! not one word! 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 93 

15. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace, but there is no 
peace. 

16. If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, 
while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never 
would lay down my arms ! — never ! never ! never ! 

Lord Chatham. 



Climax is an arrangement of thought in which the suc- 
cessive ideas rise in importance towards the close of the 
sentence. 

The members of the series which compose the climax, 
may be words, phrases, or sentences. Each successive 
member should be given with increased energy and ear- 
nestness, the last member of the series receiving the 
greatest emphasis, when the "climax " is said to be 
reached. 

The rule for climax applies, to a certain extent, to Am- 
plification and Enumeration, illustrations of which are 
included in the following examples : 

DARE NOT 

must no t, grant 

I will not, your 

wish. 

1. We have yet many forced marches to make ; ene- 
mies to vanquish ; laurels to gather ; and INJURIES 
TO AVENGE ! 

Napoleon. 



194 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

2. Each hour dark fraud, 

Or open rapine, or PROTECTED MURDER, * 
Cry out against them. 

3. Friendship was its inhabitant ; love was its inhab- 
itant ; domestic affection was its inhabitant ; liberty was 
its inhabitant ! — all bounded by the stream of the 
Rubicon. 

Knowles. 

4. Then came a cloud of smoke, and out of the cloud came the 
lightning, 
Out of the lightning thunder ; and death unseen ran before 
it. 

Longfellow. 

5. Your dearest interests, your own liberties, the Con- 
stitution itself, totter to the foundation. 

6. Patricians ! They have pushed me to the gulph : — 
I have worn down my heart, wasted my means, 
Humbled my birth, bartered my ancient name, 
For the rank favor of the senseless mass. 



Craly. 



I have no ancient birth, no heraldry, — 
No motley coat is daubed upon my shield; 
I cheat no rabble, like your charlatans, 
By flinging dead men's dust in idiot's eyes; 
I work no miracles with buried bones; 
Yet, if I stooped to talk of ancestry, 
I had an ancestor, — mine was Adam. 

To wake the soul by tender strokes of art; 
To raise the genius, and to mend the heart; 
To make mankind in conscious virtue bold, 



Croly. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 95 

Live o'er the scene, and be what they behold: 
For this the tragic muse first trod the stage, — 
Commanding tears to stream through every age. 

9. Thus, by his genius and his jack-knife driven 
Ere long he'll solve you any problem given; 
Make any jim-crack, musical or mute, 

A plough, a coach, an organ or a flute; 
Make anything, in short, for sea or shore, 
From a child's rattle to a seventy-four; 
Make it, said I? — Ay, when he undertakes it, 
He ; ll make the thing and the machine that makes it. 

Pierpont. 

10. What! attribute the sacred sanction of God and 
Nature to the massacres of the Indian scalping-knife, — 
to the cannibal savage, torturing, murdering, devouring, 
drinking the blood of his mangled victims. Such hor- 
rible notions shock every precept of religion, every sen- 
timent of honor, every generous feeling of humanity ! 

Lord Chatham. 

1 1 . The cloud capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, 

And like this insubstantial pageant faded, 
Leave not a rack behind. 

Shakespeare. 

12. Call me their traitor! — Thou injurious tribune ! 
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths, 
In thy hands clutch'd as many millions, in 
Tny lying tongue both numbers, I would say 
Thou liest, unto thee, with a voice as free 

As I do pray the gods. 

Shakespeare. 



I96 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

13. Days, months, years, and ages shall circle away, 
And still the vast waters above thee shall roll; 
Earth loses thy pattern, forever and aye; 

O, sailor boy! sailor boy ! peace to thy soul. 

Dimond. 

14. The gases gather to the solid firmament, the chemic 
lump arrives at the plant, and grows ; arrives at the 
quadruped, and walks ; arrives at the man, and thinks. 

Emerson. 

15. I found France rent asunder; 

The rich men despots, and the poor banditti; 
Sloth in the market and schism in the temple; 
Brawls festering to rebellion; and weak laws 
Rotting away with rust in antique sheaths. 
I have recreated France; and, from the ash 
Of the old feudal and decrepit carcass, 
Civilization, on her luminous wings, 
Soars, phcenix-like, to Jove! 

Sir E. Bulwer Lytton. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF MODULATION AND EM- 
PHASIS. 

The study of the following sentences will show the im- 
portance of proper modulation and the correct placing of 
emphasis. Many of the punctuation marks are purposely 
omitted. 

1. The man who is in the daily use of alcoholic li- 
quors if he does not become a drunkard is in danger of 
losing his health and character. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 97 

2. She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished 
That heaven had made her such a man. 

3. The dog would have died if you hadn't cut his head 
off. 

4. Your honor is right and I am wrong as your honor 
usually is. 

5. Where is the man ? There he is madam drunk as 
you behold. 

6. Yet all said he was an excellent man. 

7. Hang out the banners on the outward wall the cry is still 

they come. 

8. If Moses was the son of Pharaoh's daughter then 
Moses was the daughter of Pharaoh's son. 

9. There is a divinity that shapes our ends 

Rough-hew them how we may. 

10. I give to you sir a puppy the one you asked for. 

1 1 . Thou foundest me an enemy, thou leavest me a friend. 

12. The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the 
righteous is bold as a lion. 

13. He moves a god resistless in his course, 

And seems a match for more than mortal force. 

14. A fellow in a market town 

Most musical cries razors up and down. 

1 5 . My hand will rather 

The multitudinous seas incarnadine 
Making the green one red . 



190 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

16. How fleet is a glance of the mind 

Compared with the speed of its flight 
The tempest itself lags behind 

And the swift winged arrows of light. 

17. The king himself has followed her 

When she has walked before. > 

18. But this circumstance averted the dangers that 
threatened him and made him sad. 

19. The judge in passing sentence on John said that 
he was not guilty. 

20. Pain has not caused him thus to feel but sorrow. 

21. He had a patient lying at Death's door 

Some three miles from the town ; it might be four. 

22. Thersites calls Ajax the idol of idiot worshipers. 

23. He tenderly led from the court-room 
Himself the guilty child. 

TRANSITION. 



Transition is the name given to those abrupt changes 
in pitch, force, time and quality, employed for expression 
in reading and speaking. 

An important application of Transition, is in the 
passing from one character to another in personation. 
Its effective use implies proper control of voice in all the 
essentials of elocution. 

I. So stately her bearing, So proud her array, 
The main she will traverse forever and aye. 






MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 1 99 

Many ports will exult at the gleam of her mast! — 
Hush! hush! thou vain dreamer! this hour is her last! 
Mrs. Browning. 

At first a universal shriek there rushed, 
Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash 

Of echoing thunder; — then all was hushed, 
Save the wild wind and the remorseless dash 

Of billows. 



Byron. 



The combat deepens. — On, ye brave, 
"Who rush to glory or the grave! 



Lo! anointed by heaven with vials of wrath, 

Behold, where he flies on his desolate path! 

Now, in darkness and billows, he sweeps from my sight; 

Rise! rise! ye wild tempests, and cover his flight! 

Tis finished. Their thunders are hushed on the moors; 

Culloden is lost, and my country deplores ! 

Campbell. 

" Halt! " — the dust-brown ranks stood fast; 
" Fire!" — out blazed the rifle-blast. 

It shivered the window, pane and sash, 

It rent the banner with seam and gash. 

Quick, as it fell from the broken staff, 

Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf; 

She leaned far out on the*window-sill, . 

And shook it forth with a royal will. 
" Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, 

But spare your country's flag," she said. 

A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, 

Over the face of the leader came; 

The nobler nature within him stirred 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

To life at that woman's deed and word. 
" Who touches a hair of yon gray head 
Dies like a dog! March on! " he said. 

Whittier. 

They fought like brave men, long and well, 
They piled the ground with Moslem slain, 
They conquered — but Bozzaris fell, 
Bleeding at every vein. 

Halle ck/ 

A light on Marmion's visage spread, 

And fired his glazing eye: 
With dying hand above his head 
He shook the fragment of his blade, 

And shouted " Victory! — 
Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!" 
Were the last words of Marmion. 

Scott. 

" Accursed be the faggots, that blaze at his feet, 
Where his heart shall be thrown, e'er it ceases to beat, 
With the smoke of the ashes to poison the gale " — 
— "Down, soothless insulter! I trust not the tale; 
For never shall Albion a destiny meet 
So black with dishonor — so foul with retreat." 

Campbell. 

" By the God that made thee, Randolph, 
Tell us what mischance hath come! " 
Then he lifts his riven banner, 
And the asker's voice is dumb. 

Ay t oiin. 






MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 20 1 

10. "When Venice and Rome keep their new jubilee, 

When your flag takes all heaven for its green, white and red, 
When you have a country from mountain to sea, 
When King Victor has Italy's crown on his head, 
[And I have my dead.) 

What then ? Do not mock me. Ah! ring your bells low, 

And burn your lights faintly. My country is there, 
Above the star pricked by the last peak of snow, 
My Italy's there, with my brave civic pair, 
To disfranchise despair. 

Mrs. Browning. 

u. If you should transfer the amount of your reading 
day by day from the newspapers to the standard authors 
— But who dare speak of such a thing. 

Emerson. 

QUALITY. 

For definitions of the different qualities of voice, see 
pages 57 and 58. Examples for practice are given 
below. 



How sweet the chime of the Sabbath bells! 
Each one its creed in music tells, 
In tones that float upon the air, 
As soft as song, and pure as prayer; 
And I will put in simple rhyme 
The language of the golden chime. 
My happy heart with rapture swells 
Responsive to the bells — sweet bells. 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! 
Here will we sit and let the sound of music 
Creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night 
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 
Sit, Jessica: look how the floor of Heaven 
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold; 
There's not the smallest orb which thou beholdest 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims: 
Such harmony is in immortal souls; 
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 

Shakespeare. 

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean — roll! 

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; 

Man marks the earth with ruin — his control 

Stops with the shore, upon the watery plain 

The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain 

A shadow of man's ravage, save his own, 

When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, 

He sinks into the depths with bubbling groan, 

Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown. 



4. O thou that roll'st above, round as the shield of my fathers! 
W T hence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light ? 



i. "Hush! silence along the lines there !" he mut- 
tered, in that wild, absent tone, as though speaking to the 
dead ; " silence along the lines ! not a word — not a word, 
on peril of your lives ! Hark you, Montgomery ! we will 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. ■ 203 

meet in the center of the town : — we will meet there in 
victory, or die ! " 

Geo. Lippard. 

2. Lo ! now the night is coming. The mist is gather- 
ing on the hill. The fox steals forth to seek his quarry, 
and the gray owl sweeps whirling by, rejoicing in the still- 
ness. 

3. A-ha ! the veil ! the veil, — it was empoisoned ! 

4. Ah, we creep round a ledge 
On the world's very edge, 
On a shelf of the rock 

Where an eagle might nest, 
And the heart's double knock 
Dies away in the breast — 
We have rounded Cape Horn ! Grand Pacific, good morn ! 

B. F. Taylor. 

5. My dream was lengthened afier life : — 
Oh ! then began the tempest to my soul ! 

With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends 
Environed me, and howled in mine ears 
Such hideous cries', that, with the very noise, 
I trembling waked, and, for a season after, 
Could not believe but that I was in hell ; 
Such terrible impressions made my dream ! 

Shakespeare. 

6. And not in vain he listened : " Hush ! — what's that ? 
' I see — I see :— Ah no ! 'tis not — yet 'tis — 

Ye powers ! It is the — the — the : — Pooh ! the cat. 

7 . Yet half I hear the parting spirit sigh, 

" It is a dread and awful thing to die ! ">— 



204 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Mysterious worlds untraveled by the sun, — 
Where Time's far-wandering tide has never run, — 
From your unfathomed shades, and' viewless spheres, 
A warning comes, unheard by other ears. 
8. How like a fawning publican he looks ! 

I hate him, for he is a Christian ; 
But more, for that, in low simplicity, 
He lends out money gratis, and brings down 
The rate of usance with us here in Venice. 
If I can catch him once upon the hip, 
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him ! 

Shakespeare. 

IMITATIVE MODULATION. 

The correspondence between sound and sense is, per- 
haps, more marked in the English Language than in any 
other. The sound and modulation of the words — the 
elements themselves — -have a significance that every ora- 
tor and actor appreciates, and seeks to make effective in 
the communication of thought and feeling. 

Give each of the following words in that quality sug- 
gested by its meaning. 

Rough, smooth, light, thin, heavy, tough, brittle, husky, 
harsh, chuckle, quick, slow, cluck, crash, splash, whiz; 
boom, patter, rumble, groans, tinkle, bellow, buzz, bub- 
ble, bells, tolls. 

The following sentences are good illustrations of lim- 
itative Modulation, and will be found excellent for prac- 
tice. 

I. Down the rough slope the ponderous wagon rijigs ; 
Through nestling corn the hare astonished springs ; 
Slozu tolls the village clock the droivsy hour ; 
The partridge bursts away on zvhirring wings. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 205 

Hark ! how the sign-board creaks ! The blast howls by ! 
Moan ! moan ! A dirge swells through the cloudy sky ! 

The shard-borne beetle with its drowsy hums 
Hath rung night's yawning peal. 

On a sudden open fly 
The infernal gates, and on their hinges grate 
Harsh thunder ! 

There crept 
A little, noiseless noise among the leaves, 
Born of the very sigh that silence heaves. 

And her step was light and airy 

As the tripping of a fairy ; 

When she spoke, you thought each minute, 

'Twas the trilling of a linnet ; 

When she sang, you heard a gush 

Of full-voiced sweetness like a thrush. 

/. F. Waller. 

Ay de mi ! — Like echoes falling 

Sweet and sad and low, 
Voices come at night, recalling 

Years and years ago. 

Idem . 

Through moss and through brake 

It runs and it creeps, 

P'or a while, till it sleeps 
In its own little lake. 
And thence at departing, 
Awakening and starting, 
It runs through the reeds, 
And away it proceeds, 



2o6 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Through meadow and glade, 

In sun and in shade, 

And through the wood-shelter, 

Among crags in its flurry, 
Helter skelter, 

Hurry-skurry. 

Son they. 

9. Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, 

And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows ; 
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, 
The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar. 
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, 
The line too labors, and the rocks move slow ; 
Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, 
Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. 

Pope. 

RHYTHMUS AND MELODY. 

Rhythmus and Melody are important factors in the 
expressive rendering of poetry and well written prose. 

Rhythmus is mainly dependent upon accent ; Melody, 
upon modulation. 

Rhythmus is not "sing song" — a common fault in the 
reading of poetry that should be avoided. It is that 
gliding movement noticeable in well spoken language, 
that gives melody to speech. 

Rhythmus and Melody are further explained and illus- 
trated under their more practical heading. 

MEASURES OF SPEECH. 

The alternate heavy and light action of the voice run- 
ning through all speech, is caused by a regular actio?i 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 207 

and reaction of the larynx, a phenomenon peculiar to all 
muscular effort. In the case of the larynx, it is produced 
" by a slight but decided action between the thyroid and 
cricoid cartilages, which occasions an alternate tension 
and relaxation of the vocal cords." In words, we recognize 
it in the accented and unaccented syllables ; in sentences, 
in the percussive and remiss action of the voice in what 
may be called speech-words. A speech-word may be one 
word or several words over which the voice is carried by 
a single impulse. 

The percussive action of the voice corresponds to ac- 
cent ; the remiss action to unaccent, as illustrated in the 
words and sentences below. 

The former is marked thus (*) ; the latter thus (-). 

1 . in'-ter-est 

* _ _ 

in -ter-est-ed 

* _ _ _ 

in -ter-est- ed-ness 

* _ _ _ _ 

a. Land-of-the | west. 

* _ _ * 

3. Down in the | valley the I distant lights | quiver, | 
Gilding the | hard frozen | face of the | river. 

Measure of Speech reveals the close analogy existing 
between speech and song. 

Rhythmus, as seen, divides language into speech- 
words of about equal lengths, corresponding to measure 



2 05 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

in music. The percussive action of the voice, as with 
accent in music, falls upon the first syllable of the speech- 
word or measure. The pauses in speech correspond to 
the rests in music. 

The practice of exercises in Measure of Speech will 
encourage and develop a gliding movement, that will 
counteract the tendency toward pronouncing the words 
of a sentence as though they were separate and of equal 
importance. 

In the following exercises, the rests are represented 
thus (7), and the measures are separated by the "bar" 
( I ), as in music. 

1 . 7 On I Linden | 77 | when the | sun was I low | 

7 All I bloodless J 77 | lay the un- | trodden | snow | 
77 j 7 And I dark as | winter | 7 was the | flow 

7 Of I Iser I rolling | rapidly. | 77 | 77 | 

* _ * _ * _ *__ 

7 But J Linden | 77 | saw an- | other | sight | 
7 When the j drum | beat | 7 at | dead of | night | 
7 Com - I manding | fires of | death | 7 to | light j 
I 77 I 7 The I darkness | 7 of her | scenery. 

2 - O, 7 I green was the | corn | 7 as I | rode on my | way, | 
7 And I bright was the | dew | 7 on the | blossoms of | May, | 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 209 

7 And I dark was the | sycamore's | shade to be- | hold, | 
7 And the | oak's tender | leaves | 7 were of | em'rald and 
[gold. 

3. 7 I I sift the I snow | 7 on the | mountain be- | low | 

7 And the | great | pines | groan a- | ghast ; 77 | 
7 And J all the | night | 7 'tis my | pillow | white, | 
7 While I I sleep in the | arms of the | blast . 

4. 7 But I here's a | parchment | 7 with the | seal of | Caesar; 

177 1 
7 I I found it I 7 in his | closet; | 77 | 7 'tis his | will; | 77 

177 I 
Let but the | commons | hear | 7 this | testament, | 77 | 
7 (Which, j pardon me, ) 7 I | do not | mean to | read) — 

177 I 
77 [ And they would | go \ 7 and | kiss | dead 7 | Caesar's | 

wounds, ,| 77 I 
7 And [ dip their | napkins j 7 in his | sacred [ blood; | 
77 I Yea, I 77 j beg a | hair of him | 7 for | memory, | 77 | 
7 And I dying, | 77 | mention it within their | wills, | 
77 I 7 Be- I queathing it j 7 as a | rich 7 | legacy, | 
Unto their | issue. 

5. O, I 7 that my | heart must for- | ever | 7 be | sighing! | 

77 1 
O, j 7 that the | hopes of my | youth | 7 must be | dying! | 

77 I 77 I 
Sunshine and | shadow | 7 with | shadows in- | creasing; | 

77 I 
Joy mixed with | sorrow | 7 the | sorrows ne'er ,| ceasing. 

I 77 I 77 ! 



2IO VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Why will the | clouds in my \ sky | 7 be so | lowering? | 77 | 
Why will the | skies not be | clear J 7 after | showering ? 

I 77 I 77 I 
Echoes I 7 my | soul | 7 not a | hint to these | queries; | 77 | 
Questions on | questions | 7 my | troubled 7 | heart 7 | 

wearies, j 77 i 77 I 
O, I 7 that the | clouds | 7 from my | heaven | 7 would | 

open! j 77 j 
O, I 7 for some | love-laden | dove | 7 with | love's 7 | 

token! 

6. 7 My I ancestors | came from old j Sparta, | 7 
and I settled a- | mong the | vine-clad | rocks | 7 and 
citron | groves of | Cyra- | sella. | 7 7 | 7 7 | 7 My | ear- 
ly I life I 7 ran | quiet as the | brooks | 7 by | which I 

I sported ; | 77 | 7 and | when | 7 at | noon, | 7 I | 
gathered the | sheep | 7 be- | neath the | shade, | 7 and 

I played upon the | shepherd's | flute, | 7 there was a | 
friend, | 7 the | son of a | neighbor, | 7 to | join me in 
the I pastime. | 77 j 77 | 7 We | led our | flocks to the 

I same | pasture | 7 and par- | took to- | gether | 7 
our I rustic | meal. 

7. 7 And he | showed me a | pure | river of | water 
of I life, I 77 I clear as j crystal, | 7 pro- | ceeding | 
out of the I throne of | God and of the | Lamb. | 77 | 77 
I 7 In the I midst of the | street of it, | 7 and on | eith- 
er I side of the | river, | 7 was | there the | tree of | life, 
I 7 which I bare | twelve | manner of | fruits, | 7 and 
I yielded her | fruit | every | month : | 77 | 7 and the | 
leaves of the | tree | 7 were for the | healing of the | na- 
tions. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 21 £ 

8. Then read from the treasured volume 

The poem of thy choice, 
And lend to the rhyme of the poet 
The beauty of thy voice. 

And the night shall be filled with music, 

And the cares, that infest the day, 
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, 

And as silently steal away. 

Longfellow . 

9. Gone, art thou, Marion, Marion Moore ! 

Gone, like the breeze o'er the billow that bloweth; 
Gone, like the rill to the ocean that floweth; 
Gone, as the day from the gray mountain g^eth, 
Darkness behind thee, but glory before. 

Jas. G. Clark. 

10. Now the world slopes away to the afternoon sun — 
Steady one ! Steady all ! The down grade has begun. 
Let the engines take breath, they have nothing to do, 
For the law that swings worlds will whirl the train through. 

Steams of fire from the wheels, 

Like flashes from the fountains ; 
And the dizzy train reels 

As it swoops down the mountains : 
And fiercer and faster 

As if demons drove tandem 
Engines " Death " and "Disaster ! " 

From dumb Winter to Spring in one wonderful hour ; 
From Nevada's white wing to Creation in flower ! 
December at morning tossing wild in its might — 
A June without warning and blown roses at night ! 

Benj. F. Taylor, 



212 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

STYLE. 

The Colloquial constitutes the basis of all other styles. 
It is the golden thread that runs through the warp and 
woof of speech. It is to this that the attention of the 
student should first be called. 

More practice is needed in the colloquial style of read- 
ing and speaking than in any other. There is far too 
much declaiming in the declamatory, too much of the 
dramatic in drama, and not enough talking anywhere. 
|^In impassioned expression, the colloquial may be lost 
for awhile, like some of the streams of California, to reap- 
pear farther down the channel of thought. 

In many of the paragraphs given below, in which the 
colloquial predominates, other styles that contribute to 
the mixed emotions frequently appear, and should not be 
ignored. 

The Colloquial prevails in the Narrative, the Descrip- 
tive, the Didactic, and in Dialogue and Drama, 
it The Parliamentary and Declamatory styles predominate 
in Deliberative Address, in Recitation and in Oratory. 

In the portrayal of the Passions, the Dramatic style 
prevails, and is largely characterized by "Action." 

Personation is the representing of different characters. 
Its scope comprises and utilizes all the different styles 
employed in vocal and physical expression. 

In exemplifying the various styles, the student should 
first study each selection until the general spirit — the 
pervading thought and emotion of the passage — is well 
understood and /<?//, and then he should endeavor to ren- 
der it in the most natural manner consistent with the re- 
quired expression. 

These directions should be followed in the study and 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 21$ 

practice of all the exercises given for elocutionary drill. 

The different emotions embodied in language should 
be studied and practiced by the student until the words 
■ — and the emotions, if possible — become his own, and will 
prompt to the same expression as would similar passions 
uncoerced by the will. This is the highest attainment 
in the art, and one which every student of elocution 
should aim to reach. 

That this ideal standard may be attained, is clearly 
shown in the following lines from Hamlet after his inter- 
view with the players : 

Is it not monstrous, that this player here, 
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, 
Could force his soul so to his own conceit, 
That from her workings, all his visage wan'd ; 
Tears in his eyes, distraction in 's aspect, 
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting 
With forms to his conceit ? 

From As Yon Like It. 

i . Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exile, 

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet 
Than that of painted pomp ? Are not these woods 
More free from peril than the envious court ? 
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, 
The season's difference, — as, the icy fang, 
The churlish chiding of the winter's wind, 
Which when it bites and blows upon my body, 
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say 
" This is no flattery, — these are counselors 
That feelingly persuade me what I am.'" 
Sweet are the uses of adversity ; 



214 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head: 
And this our life, exempt from public haunt, 
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything. 

Shakespeare . 

From Bitter Sweet. 

2, Laugh, if you like to! Laugh till you're grey; 
But I guess you'd laugh another way 
If you'd hit your toe, and fallen like me, 
And cut a bloody gash in your knee, 
And bumped your nose and bruised your shin. 
Tumbled over the- rolling pin 
That rolled to the floor in the awful din 
That followed the fall of the row of tin 
That stood upon the dresser. 

Holland. 

From Rip Van Winkle. 

3. "Hush, Rip," cried she, "hush you little fool; the 
old man won't hurt you." The name of the child, the air 
of the mother, the tone of her voice, all awakened a train 
of recollections in his mind. "What is your name, my 
good woman ? " asked he. 

"Judith Gardenier." 

"And your father's name? " 

"Ah, poor man, Rip Van Winkle was his name, but 
it's twenty years since he went away from home with his 
gun, and never has been heard of since, — his dog came 
home without him ; but whether he shot himself, or was 
carried away by the Indians, nobody can tell. I was 
then but a little girl." . 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 215 

Rip had but one question more to ask ; but he put it 
with a faltering voice : — 

"Where's your mother?" 

" Oh, she too had died but a short time since ; she 
broke a blood-vessel in a fit of passion at a New Eng- 
land peddler." 

There was a drop of comfort, at least, in this intelli- 
gence. The honest man could contain himself no longer. 
He caught his daughter and her child in his arms. " I 
am your father ! " cried he — " Young Rip Van Winkle 
once — old Rip Van Winkle now !— Does nobody know 
poor Rip Van Winkle?" 

Irving. 

From Sheriff Thome. 

4. That I should be sheriff, and keep the jail, 

And that yonder stately old fellow you see 
Marching across the yard, should be 
My prisoner, — well, 'tis a curious tale, 
As you'll agree. 

For he, you must know, was sheriff then, 
And he guarded me, as I guard him! 

(The fetter I wore now fits his limb!) — 

Just one of your high-flown, straight-laced men, 
Pompous and grim. 

What fault ? 'Twas not one fault alone 

That brought him low, but a treacherous train 
Of vices, sapping the heart and brain. 
Then came his turn at breaking stone, 
With a ball and chain. 

Trowbridge . 



2l6 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION, 

From Tom. 

5. Oh ! you'd admire 

To see Robin now, he's as bright as a dime, 

Deep in some mischief, too, most of the time. 

Tom, it was, saved him. Now isn't it true, 

Tom's the best fellow that ever you knew ? 

There's Robin now — see, he's strong as a log — 

And there comes Tom, too — 

Yes, Tom was our dog. 

C. F. Woolson. 
From Christmas Carol. 

6. Running to the window, he opened it, and put out 
his head. No fog, no mist, no night ; clear, bright, stir- 
ring, golden day. 

" What's to-day ? " cried Scrooge, calling downward to 
a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered to 
look about him. 

"Eh?" 

" What's to-day, my fine fellow? " - 

"To-day! Why, Christmas Day." 

" It's Christmas day ! I haven't missed it. Hello, my 
fine fellow ! " 

"Hello!" 

"Do you know the Poulterer's in the next street but 
one, at the corner ? " 

"I. should hope I did." 

" An intelligent boy ! A remarkable boy ! " 

Dickens. 

From Wreck of the Hesperus. 

7. "Oh, father ! I hear the sound of guns, 

Oh, say, what may it be ? " 
" Some ship in distress that cannot live 
In such an angry sea ! " 

Longfellow. 






MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 2iy 

From Essays of Truth. 

8. The poet that beautifies the sect that was otherwise 
inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well :' " It is a 
pleasure to .stand upon the shore, and to see ships upon 
the sea : a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, 
and to see a battle, and the adventures thereof below : 
but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the 
vantage-ground of truth," (a hill not to be command- 
ed ; and where the air is always clear and serene :) " and 
to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tem- 
pests, in the vale below : " so always, that this prospect 
be with pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly, 
it is a. heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in 
charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of 
truth. 

Bacon. 

From Darius Green. 

9. And there they hid : 

And Ruben slid 
The fastenings back, and the door undid. 
" Keep dark ! " said he, 
" While I squint and see what the' is to see. 

Hush ! 

He's up in the shed ! 
He's opened the winder, — I see his head 

He stretches it out, 

And pokes it about, 
Looking to see if the coast is clear, 

An' anybody near ; — 
Guess he don'o who's hid in here ! " 

Trowbridge . 



2l8 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

From The Wife. 

io. " You think because my life is rude, 

I take no note of sweetness ; 
I tell you love has naught to do 
With meetness or unmeetness. 

Itself its best excuse, it asks 

No leave of pride or fashion, 
When silken gown or homespun frock 

It stirs with throbs of passion. 

I dare your pity or your scorn, 
With pride your own exceeding ; 

I fling my heart into your lap 
Without a word of pleading." 

Whittier. 

From Essay on Domestic Life. 

n. The perfection of the providence for childhood is 
easily acknowledged. Welcome to the parents the puny 
struggler, strong in his weakness, his little arms more ir- 
resistible than the soldiers, his lips touched with persua- 
sion which Chatham and Pericles in manhood had not. 
His unaffected lamentations when he lifts up his voice on 
high, or, more beautiful, the sobbing child, — the face all 
liquid grief, as he tries to swallow his vexation,— soften 
all hearts to pity, and to mirthful and clamorous compas- 
sion. The small despot asks so little that all reason and 
all nature are on his side. All day, between his three or 
four sleeps, he coos like a pigeon-house, sputters, and 
spurs, and puts on his faces of importance ; and when he 
fasts, the little Pharisee fails not to sound his trumpet be- 
fore him. 

Emerson. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 219 

From Sella. 

12. So spoke the maiden Sella, with large tears 

Standing in her mild blue eyes, and in the porch 

Replaced the slippers. Autumn came and went; 

The winter passed; another summer warmed 

The quiet pools; another autumn tinged 

The grape with red, yet, while it hung unplucked, 

The mother ere her time was carried forth 

To sleep among the solitary hills. 

A long still sadness settled on that home 

Among the mountains. The stern father there 

Wept with his children, and grew soft of heart, 

And Sella, and the brothers twain, and one 

Younger than they, a sister fair and shy, 

Strewed the new grave with flowers, and round it set 

Shrubs that all winter held their lively green. 

Bryant. 
From Caudle Lectures. 

13. Now, Caudle, you hear me, it isn't often I speak. 
Pray, do you know what month it is? And did you see 
how the children looked at church to-day? — like nobody 
else's children ! 

" What was the matter with them ? " Oh, Caudle ! 
how can you ask? Weren't they all in their thick me- 
rinos and beaver bonnets ? 

"I'm always wanting money for clothes?" How can 
you say that ? I'm sure there are no children in the 
world that cost their father so little ; but that's it, the less 
a poor woman does upon, the less she may. 

Now, Caudle dear ! What a man you are ! I know you 
- will give me the money, because, after all, I think you 
love your children, and like to see 'em well dressed. It's 
only natural that a father should. 

Douglas W. Jerrold. 



2 20 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

From Pyramus and Thisbe. 

14. This tragical tale, which, they say, is a true one, 
Is old; but the manner is wholly a new one. 
One Ovid, a writer of some reputation, 

Has told it before in a tedious narration; 

In a style, to be sure, of remarkable fullness, 

But which nobody reads on account of its dullness. 

Saxe. 
From The Planting of the Apple Tree. 

15. Come, let us plant the apple tree! 
Cleave the tough greensward with the spade; 
Wide let its hollow bed be made; 

There gently lay the roots, and there 
Sift the dark mold with kindly care, 

And press it o'er them tenderly, 
As round the sleeping infant's feet 
We softly fold the cradle -sheet; 

So plant we the apple-tree. 

" Who planted this old apple-tree ? " 
The children of that distant day 
Thus to some aged man shall say; 
And, gazing on its mossy stem, 
The gray-haired man shall answer them: 

" A poet of the land was he, 
Born in the rude but good old times; 
'Tis said he made some quaint old rhymes 

On planting the apple-tree." 

Bryant, 

From Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill. 

16. Then the corporal, our old cripple (he would swear some* 

times and tipple), — - 
He had heard the bullets whistle (in the old French war) be- 
fore, — 






MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 22 1 

Calls out in words of jeering, just as ii' they all were hearing — 
And his wooden leg thumps fiercely on the dusty belfry 
floor: — 

:< Oh! fire away, ye villains, and earn King George's shiilin's, 
But ye '11 waste a ton of powder afore a ' rebel ' falls; 
You may bang the dirt and welcome, they're as safe as 

Dan'l Malcolm 
Ten foot beneath the- gravestone that you've splintered with 
your balls! " 

Holmes. 

From The Monitions of The Unseen. 

17. Now, in an ancient town, that had sunk low, — 
Trade having drifted from it, while there stayed 
Too many, that it erst had fed, behind, — 
There walked a curate once at early day. 

It was summer time; but summer air 
Came never, in its sweetness, down that dark 
And crowded alley, — never reached the door 
Whereat he stopped, — the sordid, shattered door. 

He paused, and, looking right and left, beheld 
Dirt and decay, the lowering tenements 
That leaned toward each other; broken panes 
Bulging with rags, and grim with old neglect; 
And reeking hills of formless refuse, heaped 
To fade and fester in a stagnant air. 

Jean Inge low. 

From Incite. 
.18. It was then that Matilda herself seized the hand 
Of Lucile in her own, and uplifted her; and 



222 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Thus together they entered the house. 

'Twas the room 
Of Matilda. 

The languid and delicate gloom 
Of a lamp of pure white alabaster, aloft 
From the ceiling suspended, around it slept soft. 
The casement oped into' the garden. The pale, 
Cool moonlight stream'd through it. One lone 
Nightingale sung aloof in the laurels. 

And here, side by side, 
Hand in hand, the two women sat down undescried, 
Save by guardian angels. 

They 
Look'd indeed, like two flowers upon one drooping stem, 
In the soft light that tenderly rested on them. 
All that soul said to soul in that chamber, who knows ? 
All that heart gained from heart ? 

Leave the lily, the rose, 
Undisturbed with their secret within them. For who 
To the heart of the floweret can follow the dew ? 

You heard 
Pass'd from earth up to heaven the happy watch-word, 
" All is well! all is well! " 

Owen Meredith. 

From Merchant of Venice. 

19. The quality of mercy is not strain'd ; 

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath ; it is twice blest ; — 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes \ 
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest ; it becomes 
The" throned monarch better than his crown ; 
His scepter shows the force of temporal power, 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 22$ 

The attribute to awe and majesty, 
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 
But mercy is above this sceptered sway, 
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
It is an attribute to God himself; 
And earthly power doth then show likest God's 
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this — 
That, in the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much 
To mitigate the justice of thy plea; 
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice 
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there- 

Shakespeare* 
From Othello. 

20. Oh, my soul's joy! — 
If after every tempest come such calms, 

May the winds blow till they have wakened death! 

And let the laboring bark climb hills of seas, 

Olympus-high; and duck again as low 

As hell's from heaven. If it were now to die, 

Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear, 

My soul hath her content so absolute 

That not another comfort like to this 

Succeeds in unknown fate. Shakespeare . 

From Speech of Sempronius. 

21. My voice is still for war. 
Gods! can a Roman senate long debate, 
Which of the two to choose — slavery or death? 
No! let us rise at once, gird on our swords, 



2 24 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

And, at the head of our remaining troops, 
Attack the foe; break through the thick array 
Of his thronged legions, and charge home upon him. 
Perhaps some arm, more lucky than the rest, 
May reach his heart, and free the world from bondage. 
Rise, fathers, rise! 'tis Rome demands your help; 
Rise, and revenge her slaughtered citizens, 
Or share their fate! The slain of half her senate 
Enrich the fields of Thessaly, while we 
Sit here deliberating in cold debates, 
If we should sacrifice our lives to honor, 
Or wear then) out in servitude and chains. 
Rouse up, for shame! Our brothers of Pharsalia 
Point at their wounds, and cry aloud, "To battle!" 

Addison. 

From King John. 

22. Thou slave! thou wretch! thou coward! 
Thou little valiant, great in villainy! 

Thou ever strong upon the stronger side! 
Thou fortune's champion, that dost never fight 
But when her humorous ladyship is by 
To teach thee safety! ******* 

Thou wear a lion's hide? Doff it for shame, 
And hang a calf's skin on those recreant limbs. 

Shakespeare. 
Yxov&Tragedy of Catiline. 

23. What is 't to me, it all have stooped in turn! 
Does fellowship in chains make bondage proud? 
Does the plague lose its venom if it taint 

My brother with thyself? Is 't victory, 
If I but find stretched by my bleeding side 
All who came with me in the golden morn, 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 225 

And shouted as my banner met the sun ? 

I can not think on't. There's no faith in earth ! 

The very men with whom I walked through life, 

Nay, till within this hour, in all the bonds 

Of courtesy and high companionship, 

They all deserted me ; Metellus, Scipio, 

iEmilius, Cato, even my kinsman, Caesar. 

All the chief names and senators of Rome, 

This day, as if the heavens had stamped me black, 

Turned on their heel, just at the point oi fate ; 

Left me a mockery, in the rabble's midst, 

And followed their plebeian consul, Cicero ! 

This was the day to which I looked through life ; 

And it has failed me — vanished from my grasp, 

Like air. 

Croly. 

From Coriolaniis. 

24. You souls of geese 

That bear the shapes of men, how have you run % 
From slaves that apes would beat ! * * * 

******* Mend, and charge home, 
Or, by the fires of heaven, I'll leave the foe, 
And make my wars on you ! look to 't : come on ! 

Shakespeare. 

From Thalaba the Destroyer. 

25. Begone then, insolent ! 

Why dost thou stand and gaze upon me thus ? 
Aye ! watch the features well that threaten thee 
With fraud and danger ! In the wilderness 
They shall avenge me — in the hour of want 
Rise on thy view, and make thee feel 
How innocent I am : 



226 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

And this remembered cowardice and insult 
With a more painful shame will burn thy cheek 
Than now heats mine with anger. 

Southey. 

From The Light of the Harem. 

26. Alas ! how light a cause may move 

Dissension between hearts that love ! — 

Hearts that the world in vain had tried, 

And sorrow but more closely tied ! 

That stood the storm — when waves were rough — 

Yet, in a sunny hour fall off ; — 

Like ships that have gone down at sea, 

When heaven was all tranquility ! 

A something, light as air — a look, 

A word unkind, or wrongly taken — 
Oh ! Love, that tempests never shook, 

A breath, a touch like this, hath shaken. 
And ruder words will soon rush in, 
To spread the breach that words begin ; — 
And eyes forget the gentle ray 
They wore in courtship's smiling day ; — 
And voices lose the tone that shed 
A tenderness round all they said 
Till, — fast declining — one by one, 
The sweetnesses of Love are gone : — 
And hearts so lately mingled, seem 
Like broken clouds, — or like the stream, 
That smiling left the mountain's brow, 

As though its waters ne'er could sever, 
Yet — ere it reach the plains below — 

Breaks into floods that part forever. 

Moore. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 227. 

From Julius Casar. 

27. How ill this taper burns ! — Ha ! who comes here ? 
I think it is the weakness of my eyes, 

That shapes this monstrous apparition — 
It comes upon me : — art thou any thing ? 
Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, 
That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stand, — 
Speak to me, what thou art. 

Shakespeare. 

Jealousy. 

28. I DO mistrust thee, woman! and each word 
Of thine stamps truth on all suspicion heard. 
Borne in hi? arms through fire from yon Serai — 
Say, wert thou lingering there with him to fly ? 
Thou need'st not answer, thy confession speaks, 
Already reddening on thy guilty cheeks! 
Then, lovely dame, bethink thee! and beware; 
'T is not his life alone may claim such care; 
Another word — and — nay — I need no more. 
Accursed was the moment when he bore 

Thee from the flames, which better far — but— no — 
I then had mourned thee with lover's woe — 
Now 't is thy lord that warns, deceitful thing! 
Know'st thou that I can clip thy wanton wing ? 
In words alone I am not wont to chafe: 
Look to thyself, nor deem thy falsehood safe! 

Byron . 

From The Ullage. 

29. What cutting blast! and he can scarcely crawl: 
He freezes as he moves, — he dies if he should fall! 
With cruel fierceness drives this icy sleet, 

And must a Christian perish in the street, 



2 28 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

In sight of Christians ? — There! at last, he lies, — 
Nor, unsupported can he ever rise. 

Crabbe. 

30. Ah ! mercy on my soul ! What is that ? My old 
friend's ghost? They say none but wicked folks walk • 
I wish I were at the bottom of a coal-pit. See ! how 
long and pale his face has grown since his death : he 
never was handsome ; and death has improved him very 
much the wrong way. Pray do not come near me ! I 
wish'd you very well when you were alive ; but I could 
never abide a dead man, cheek by jowl with me. 

Ah, ah, mercy on us ! No nearer pray ! Ah !— ah ! 

Moliere. 

From Merchant of Venice. 

31 . How like a fawning publican he looks! 
I hate him, for he is a Christian: 
But more, for that, in low simplicity, 
He lends out money gratis, and brings down 
The rates of usance, here with us in Venice. 
If I can catch him once upon the hip, 
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. 
He hates our sacred nation; and he rails, 
Even there where merchants most do congregate, 
On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift, 
Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe 
If I forgive him. . 

Shakespeare. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 229 

MISCELLANEOUS HINTS TO THE STUDENT 
OF ELOCUTION. 

— Study the text of what you read, that you may not be 
confined too closely to the book. 

— Never read to others what you do not thoroughly un- 
derstand. 

-7— Hold book in left hand at best distance for the eyes. 
Top of book on level with the chin — which keep slightly 
elevated to prevent cramping the throat. 
— "Think the thought" intently and clearly when read- 
ing or speaking. 

— In description, form in the mind well defined pictures 
of the things or scenes described. What you would 
have others see, you must yourself see ; what feel, you 
must feel. 

— Read to, and not at or over the audience. 
— Cultivate direct address. Speak to the individual, not 
to the multitude. 

— Regulate the voice to the size of the auditorium. Com- 
mence in a low pitch, speaking slowly and distinctly, and 
gradually elevate the voice without undue effort until 
conscious of being heard and understood by all in the 
house. Generally, the larger the auditorium, the higher 
must be the pitch and the slower the time. 
— In halls that echo badly, speak slowly, distinctly, and 
with moderate force, always giving the sound time to re- 
turn. You can neither run away from echo nor beat it 
back. As your shadow, it will follow at your heels, and 
like a hungry wolf, howl in your ears. 



230 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

— The experienced speaker can judge of the ability of his 
voice to reach the more distant points, by the degree 
of exertion required to fill the auditorium ; and he 
may estimate the interest of his hearers, by the degree of 
attention given. 

— In the use of the voice, let the rule be, economy, con- 
sistent with efficiency. 

— Endeavor to liberate, as well as develop. 
— Do not seek for power in the throat, but in the dia- 
phragm and the other muscles of the waist. The respi- 
ratory muscles are the "handles " to the " voice-bellows," 
and upon them the speaker should depend for power. 
— The directions given in the division on " Voice Cul- 
ture," may be repeated with emphasis here : Speak 
through the throat and not with it, — letting the tone 
lay hold of the throat, and not the throat hold of the 
tone. 

—Do not let "the vowels swallow up the consonants." 
— The vowel elements of speech are the soul of language ; 
the consonants, the intellect. The former are the vehicles 
of emotion ; the latter, of thought. 

"Raftered by firm-laid consonants, windowed by opening 
vowels." 

— Upon the vowels depend the musical and carrying 
qualities of the voice ; upon the consonants, distinctness. 
— The voice should be allowed to " play around the 
middle pitch," modulating with freedom above and below 
this line as a common level. 

—Form the tone well forward in the mouth, giving a 
generous separation of the teeth and lips. 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 231 

— Control that unruly member, the tongue, by letting it 
lie flat in che lower jaw when not in use. 
— Do not "mouth" the words, "asmany of our players " 
and other speakers do, but let them drop from the tongue 
and lips like new coin from the mint, each worth the 
amount stamped on the face. And, when the language 
or occasion calls for it, let the words roll from the tongue, 
like the waters down the rocky gorge, in a torrent terrible 
and strong, or burst from the mouth like shot from the 
cannon, thundering and crashing their way into the mind 
and heart of the hearer. 

— Do not practice before an audience. The practice 
should precede the public effort. 

— Have the mind occupied by the matter, not the man- 
ner. He who labors for words, either in recitation or in 
oratory, speaks at a disadvantage. Facile thought, facile 
speech. 

— From mental poise or self-possession, come vocal 
poise and physical freedom. Natural respiration, an 
easy and free attitude, grace of movement, and a calm, 
clear and well-balanced mind, are some of the conditions 
essential to success in oratory. 

— The province of elocution is to clear away the ob- 
structions and open up the channels through which 
thought and feelin'g, by means of Voice and Action, seek" 
to express themselves. 
— Let your aim be to create — not to imitate. 

" One good thought, 
But known to be thine own, 
Is better than a thousand, gleaned 
From fields by others sown." 



232 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

— Emphasis is the most important means for rendering 
articulate language intelligible. The following questions 
and answers, with change in the emphasis, are given to 
exemplify this fact, and to show the importance of having 
the emphasis properly placed. 

1. "Do you study elocution? " 
"Really, I do not" 

2. " Do you study elocution ? " 
" No, but my brother does." 

3. " Do you study elocution?" 

" I am trying to learn without." 

4. " Do you study elocution!" 
" No, I prefer medicine" 

And thus the changes may be rung on most questions 
and answers. 

— Do not speak the lungs empty, but keep them com- 
fortably filled. Acquire the habit of taking in a little 
breath at the short pauses as well as at the long. 
— Quintillian says, — "It is useful to get by heart what 
is designed for the exercise of the voice." Thorough 
memorization facilitates fluency of speech. 
— Daily physical and vocal exercises are essential to the 
best and quickest results in the study of elocution. 
— More fail from lack of study than from lack of talent. 
The .student of ordinary ability, with industry, will suc- 
ceed where the indolent genius (and geniuses are pro- 
verbially lazy) will fail. Even serious impediments in 
speech are not serious impediments to success where 
there is is indomitable will and perseverance. Demos- 
thenes, Jack Curran, Canon Kingsley, and a host of 
others could be mentioned, who were not more distin- 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 233 

guished for their attainments in oratory, than they were 
remarkable for the physical and vocal defects they were 
required to overcome. 

— For strengthening the lungs, the following is a good 
exercise : Let one person whisper a sentence in abrupt 
stress to another person a short distance away. If heard, 
let the person so addressed whisper it back. From day 
to day, increase the distance. If the exercise rasps the 
throat or causes much fatigue, stop and rest. 
— Persons disposed to any " heart trouble " (other than 
that common to some young people) should practice all 
breathing exercises moderately. 
— Do not use the voice under an hour after eating. 
— Avoid vigorous vocal exercises when suffering from a 
cold. 

— Hot and very cold drinks injurious. 
— Tobacco and alcoholic liquors also considered detri- 
mental to the voice. 

— Let your motto be, Temperance in all things. 
— Never force the voice beyond its normal strength. 
— A frequent change of pitch and force in speaking is 
restful, — to speaker and hearer alike. 
— Avoid the more vigorous exercises of the gymnasi- 
um. 

— Any physical exercise that puts you " out of breath " 
ic bad. Practice, mostly, those movements that are ac- 
companied with grace. Such exercises, if given with en- 
ergy, will develop strength as well. 

— Avoid over-heated, damp, and dusty rooms. Bad 
ventilation is as ruinous to the voice as to the health. 
Seek fresh air, but not drafts. 



234 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

— Take plenty of out-door exercise, — look upon the 
bright side of things — keep your dyspepsia out of your 
face and voice — practice the " Laughing Exercise," in 
earnest — be not annoyed at trifles — -work, not worry — 
wait not for opportunity, but make it— what you under- 
stand, endeavor to do well ; if you fail, "forget the Past 
in the reformation of the Future," — shun shams and 
charlatans — encourage modesty and worth — be self-reliant, 
but not conceited, remembering that others know some- 
thing as well as yourself, and that none know it all — climb 
to position on Merit's ladder, that no adverse storms may 
shake you from your place and purpose — pay heed to 
these, and many other things that were better said than 
printed in an "elocutionary work of dignity," (as is hon- 
estly, but facetiously suggested by a friend and critic,) 
and you will be more successful as a student of elocution, 
and will thank the author for " making the opportunity " 
for giving these few homely hints, which the straight- 
jacket of textual composition would not permit. 

In conclusion, I would commend to the student, as a 
fitting climax of all elocutionary instruction, the study of 

Hamlet's Advice to the Players. 

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to 
you, trippingly on the tongue : but if you mouth it, as 
many of our players do, I had as lief the town-crier had 
spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with 
your hand, thus : but use all gently : for in the very tor- 
rent, tempest, and (as I may say) the whirlwind of pas- 
sion, you must acquire and beget a temperance, that may 
give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul, to hear 
a robustuous periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, 



MODULATION AND EXPRESSION. 235 

to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings ; who, 
for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable 
dumb shows and noise : I could have such a fellow 
whipped for o'erdoing Termigant : it out-herods Herod : 
pray you avoid it. 

Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion 
be your tutor : suit the action to the word, the word to 
the action ; with this special observance, that you o'er- 
step not the modesty of nature ; for anything so overdone 
is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the 
first and now, was, and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror 
up to nature ; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her^ 
own image, and the very age and body of the time his 
form and pressure. 

Now this, overdone, or come tardy off, though it make 
the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve ;. 
the censure of the which ore, must, in your allowance, 
o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be play- 
ers, that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and 
that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having 
the accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, 
nor man, have so strutted, and bellowed, that I have 
thought some of Nature's journeymen had made men, and 
not made them well, they imitated humanity so abomin- 
ably. 



236 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



Advice to Speakers. 

Be brief, be pointed ; let your matter stand 

Lucid, in order, solid, and at hand ; 

Spend not your words on trifles, but condense ; 

Strike with mass of thoughts, not drops ol sense ; 

Press to the close with vigor, once begun, 

And leave (how hard the task ! ) leave off when done ; 

Who draws a labored length of reasoning 'out, 

Puts straw in lines for winds to whirl about ; 

Who draws a tedious tale <~>f learning o'er, 

Counts but the sands on ocean's boundless shore ; 

Victory, if gained, is gained by battles fought, 

Not by the numbers, but the forces brought. 

What boots success in skirmish or in fray, 

If rout or ruin, following, close the day ? 

What worth a hundred posts, maintained with skill, 

If, these all held, the foe is victor still ? 

He who would win his cause, with power must frame 

Points of support, and look with steady aim ; 

Attack the weak, defend the strong with art, 

Strike but few blows, but strike them to the heart ; 

All scattered fires but end in smoke and noise,— 

The scorn of men, the idle play of boys. 

Keep, then, this first great precept, ever near ; 

Short be your speech, your matter strong and clear ; 

Earnest your manner, warm and rich your style, 

Severe in taste, yet full of grace the while ; 

So may you reach the loftiest heights of fame, 

And leave, when life is past, a deathless name. 

Judge Story. 






SELECTIONS- 



The Hero of Lake Erie. 



[This poem and two others by the same author appear in print for the first 
time, having been purchased and copyrighted for Voice Culture and Elocu- 
tion, with rights reserved by the author.] 

John Maynard stood at the steamer's wheel; 

A common sailor, but true as steel. 

Looking for heroes, you'd pass him by 

Unless you happened to catch his eye, 

That lens of the soul where one looks through 

To find if, or not, a man will do 

To leave at a post when danger is rife, 

And stand there firm at the Cost of his life, — 

And then you'd agree, with Captain "Dan," 

That rough John Maynard was just the man. 

Lake Erie was calm, the sky was clear: 
The steamer sped, as the fallow deer 
Darts through the grass on the prairie old: 
'Twas life on deck, but death in the hold. 
Little the joyful passengers knew, 
As song rolled out o'er the water blue, 
The echo sent back from the distant shore 
Was^grief s applause and death's encore. 



238 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

The captain stood by the engineer; 
His face turned pale with a sudden fear: 
A burst of smoke — no need to inquire, 
That crackling noise — " The steamer's on fire!" 
Full quickly now his firm orders came: 
" Do all you can to keep back the flame! 
Give all the steam the engine will stand: 
Our only hope is to make for land! 

John Maynard !" "Aye, aye ! " "To the nearest shore ! 
Stand firm by the wheel as never before ! 
The steamer's afire ! On you I depend 
To save these souls ! — Will you stand to the end ?" 
" Aye, aye, sir ! " John's words were ever few — 
'Tis always the case with men that do. 

And still the captain's commands came loud, 
And rang out clear o'er the wailing crowd : 
" All passengers out on the for'a'd deck ! 
We'll do our best to keep it in check, — 
Shut passages up, all hatchways close : 
Stand by, my good men, and man the hose ! " 

The passengers rush to the figure-head, 
As if in flight from some terrible dread — 
Close crowding up where there's little room : 
Clinging despair on the neck of doom. 

All hands have come up from down below ; 
Their battle short, a moment or so. 
" The engine runs without engineer," 

The captain said, "but some one must steer : 
Will you stand firm ? " John made no reply : 
He would not speak without his " Aye, aye ! " 
He thought of home that held all his joy ; 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 239 

His fond wife holding her bright-eyed boy, 
With fat arms clinging to mother's neck, 
But ready for romps at his father's beck : 

Two loves outweighing the world to him ; — 

What need to die ? 'Twas an easy swim ; 

He'd not be missed in the thick, black smoke ; — 

His hand e'en slipped from the tiller spoke : 
' Shall I stand here and give up my life, 

And leave to want, my baby and wife, — 

Far worse to me than to stand and burn ? " 

But some voice whispered : " 'Tis now your turn.*' 

Through rifts in the smoke those faces plead ; 

He thinks of Him once willing to bleed ; 

The voice of the captain pleads once more : 
' Will you stand firm till we reach the shore ? " 

All breathless wait his final reply — 

It comes at last, sailor-like : " Aye, aye ! " 

' Be calm ! " said the captain, " wail no more ! 
A hero stands there — yonder the shore ; 
Have faith in him, though you can't see through 
The thick, black smoke, yet he'll die {or yon ! 
There's no greater taith beneath the sky 
Than that I place in Maynard's 'aye, aye.'" 

' Beneath the deck 'twas a fiery maze, 
Like some great furnace all ablaze ; 
While hot smoke rose in its awful gloom, 
As if to conceal that pilot's doom. 
With one spot free where passengers stand, 
The fiery demon rushes for land.- 

The tiller-house like a furnace grew ; — 

The smoke gives way, as the flames burst through 

The upper deck and go roaring aft, 



240 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Then slowly creep up against the draft, 
Like unbent sails crawling up the mast, 
Till pilothouse is enveloped at last. 

The wheel' and engine stop at the shore, 
That hero's " Aye, aye ! " — hushed evermore. 

He stood there firm at the heated wheel, 

He stood there firm till he felt the keel 

Grate in the sand of the shallow shore — 

Till human flesh could stand it no more ; 

And falling down on his funeral pyre, 

His soul went up in chariot of fire. 

Jehovah, the Captain, called him on high ; — 

John Maynard obeyed with his last, "Aye, aye ! " 

Fred Emerson Brooks. 



The Tell-Tale Eye. 



A main fact in the history of manners is the wonderful 
expressiveness of the human body. If it were made of 
glass, or of air, and the thoughts were written on steel 
tablets within, it could not publish more truly its mean- 
ing than now. Wise men read very sharply all your pri- 
vate history in your look and gait and behavior. The 
whole economy of nature is bent on expression. The 
tell-tale body is -all tongues. Men are like Geneva watches 
with crystaj faces which expose the whole movement. 
The face and eyes reveal what the spirit is doing, how- 
old it is, what aims it has. The eyes indicate the an- 
tiquity of the soul, or, through how many forms it has 
. already ascended. 

Man cannot fix his eye on the sun, and so far seems 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 24 1 

imperfect. In some respects, the animals excel us. The 
birds have a longer sight, beside the advantage by their 
wings of a higher observatory. A cow can bid her calf, 
by secret signal, probably of the eye, to run along, or to 
lie down and hide itself. The jockeys say of certain 
horses, that "they look over the whole ground." The out- 
door life, and hunting, and labor, give equal vigor to the 
human eye. A farmer looks out at you as strong as the 
horse ; his eye-beam is like the stroke of a staff. An eye 
can threaten like a loaded and leveled gun, or can insult 
like hissing or kicking ; or, in its altered mood, by beams 
of kindness, it can make the heart dance with joy. 

The eye obeys exactly the action of the mind. When 
a thought strikes us, the eyes fix, and remain gazing at a 
distance. There is no nicety of learning sought by the 
mind which the eyes do not vie in acquiring. "An ar- 
tist," said Michael Angelo, "must have his measuring 
tools not in the hand, but in the eye ; " and there is no 
end to the catalogue of its performances, whether in in- 
dolent vision, that of health and beauty, or in strained 
vision, that of art and labor. 

Eyes are bold as lions, — roving, running, leaping, here 
and there, far and near. They speak all languages. They 
wait for no introduction ; they are no Englishmen ; ask 
no leave of age or rank ; they respect neither poverty nor 
riches, neither learning nor power, nor virtue, nor sex, 
but intrude, and come again, and go through and through 
you, in a moment of time. What inundation of life and 
thought is discharged from one soul into another, through 
them ! The glance is natural magic The mysterious 
communication established across a house between two 
entire strangers, moves all the springs of wonder. The 
communication of the glance is in the greatest part not 



242 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

subject to the control of the will. It is the bodily symbol 
of identity of nature. We look into the eyes to know if 
this other forms another self, and the eyes will not lie, 
but make a faithful confession what inhabitant is there. 
The revelations are sometimes terrific. The confession 
of a low, usurping devil is there made, and the observer 
shall seem to feel the stirring of owls, and bats, and 
horned hoofs, where he looked for innocence and sim- 
plicity. 

The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues, 
with the advantage, that the ocular dialect needs no dic- 
tionary, but is understood all the world over. When the 
eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced 
man relies on the language of the first. If a man is off 
his center, the eyes show it. You can read in the eyes 
of your companion, whether your argument hits him, 
though his tongue will not confess it. There is a look 
by which a man shows he is going to say a good thing, 
and a look when he has said it. Vain and forgotten are 
all the fine offers and offices of hospitality, if there is no 
holiday in the eye. How many furtive inclinations are 
avowed by the eye, though dissembled by the lips. There 
are eyes, to be sure, that give no more admission into the 
man than blueberries. Others are liquid and deep, — 
wells that a man might fall into ; — others are aggressive and 
devouring, seem to call out the police, take all too much 
notice, and require crowded Broadways, and the security 
of millions, to protect individuals against them. The 
military eye I meet, now darkly sparkling under cler- 
ical, now under rustic brows. Tis the city of Lace- 
dsemon ; 'tis a stack of bayonets. There are asking eyes, 
asserting eyes, prowling eyes ; and eyes full of fate, — 
some of good, and some of sinister, omen. The alleged 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 243 

power to charm down insanity, or ferocity in beasts, is a 
power behind the eye. It must be a victory achieved in 
the will, before it can be signified in the eye. 'Tis very 
certain that each man carries in his eye the exact indica- 
tion of his rank in the immense scale of men, and we 
are always learning to read it. A complete man should 
need no auxiliaries to his personal presence. Whoever 
looked on him would consent to his will, being certified 
that his aims were generous and universal. 

R. W. Emerson. 



The Field of Waterloo. 



Stop ! — for thy tread is on an empire's dust ! 
An earthquake's spoil is sepulchered below ! 
Is the spot marked with no colossal bust ? 
Nor column, trophied for triumphal show ? 
None : but the moral's truth tells simpler so. 
As the ground was before, thus let it be, — 
How that red rain hath made the harvest grow ! 
And is this all the world hath gained by thee, 
Thou first and last of fields ! king-making victory ? 

There was a sound of revelry by night, 
And Belgium's capital had gathered then 
Her Beauty and her Chivalry : and bright 
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men ; 
A thousand hearts beat happily ; and when 
Music arose with its voluptuous swell, 
Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, 
And all went merry as a marriage bell ; — 
But hush ! hark ! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell ! 



244 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Did ye not hear it ? — No ; — 'twas but the wind, 
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street : 
On with the dance ! let joy be unconfined, 
No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet 
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet — 
But hark ! — that heavy sound breaks in once more, 
As if the clouds its echo would repeat ; 
And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before ! 
Arm ! arm ! it is ! — it is the cannon's opening roar ! 

Within a windowed niche of that high hall 
Sat Brunswick's fated chieftain ; he did hear 
That sound the first amidst the festival, 
And caught its tone with Death's prophetic ear; 
And when they smiled because he deemed it near, 
His heart more truly knew that peal too well 
Which stretched his father on a bloody bier, 
And roused the vengeance blood alone could quell: 
He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell! 

Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, 
And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress, 
And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago 
Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness; 
And there were sudden partings, such as press 
The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs 
Which ne'er might be repeated; who could guess 
If ever more should meet those mutual eyes, 
Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise ? 

And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed, 
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car, 
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, 
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war; 
And the deep thunder, peal on peal, afarj 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 245 

And near, the beat of the alarming drum 
Roused up the soldier ere the morning star; 
While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, 
Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! they come, they come!" 

And wild and high the " Cameron's gathering" rose! 
The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills 
Have heard — and heard too have her Saxon foes: — 
How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills, 
Savage and shrill! But with the breath which fills 
Their mountain-pipe, so fill the mountaineers 
With the fierce native daring, which instills 
The stirring memory of a thousand years; 
And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears. 

And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, 
Dewy with nature's tear-drops, as they pass, 
Grieving — if aught inanimate e"er grieves — 
Over the unreturning brave — alas! 
Ere evening to be trodden like the grass, 
Which now beneath them, but above shall grow 
In its next verdure, when this fiery mass 
Of living valor, rolling on the foe, 
And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low! 

Last noon beheld them full of lusty life, 
Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay; 
The midnight brought the signal sound of strife; 
The morn the marshaling in arms; the day 
Battle's magnificently stern array; 
The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which, when rent, 
The earth is covered thick with other clay,. 
Which her own clay shall cover — heaped and pent, 
Rider and horse — friend, foe — in one red burial blent ! 

Byron. 



246 voice culture and elocution. 

The Sunset of Battle. 



The shadows of evening are thickening. Twilight 
closes, and the thin mists are rising in the Valley. The 
last charging squadron yet thunders in the distance ; but 
it presses only on the foiled and scattered foe. For this 
day the fight is over ! And those who rode foremost in its 
field at morning — where are they now ? On the bank of 
yon little stream, there lies a knight, his life-blood is ebbing 
faster than its tide. His shield is rent, and his lance is 
broken. Soldier, why faintest thou ? The blood that 
swells from that deep wound will answer. 

It was this morning that the sun rose bright upon 
his hopes — it sets upon his grave. This day he led the 
foremost rank of spears, that in their long row leveled 
when they had crossed their foe's dark line — then death 
shouted in the onset ! It was the last blow that reached 
him. He has conquered, though he shall not triumph 
in the victory. His breastplate is dinted. His helmet 
has the traces of well-dealt blows. The scarf on his breast 
— she would shrink but to touch it now who placed it 
there. Soldier, what will thy mistress say ? She will say 
that the knight died worthily. 

Aye, rouse thee, for the fight yet charges in the dis- 
tance ! Thy friends are shouting — thy pennon floats on 
high. Look on yon crimsoned field that seems to mock 
the purple clouds above it ! Prostrate they lie, drenched in 
their dark red pool ; thy friends and enemies ; the dead 
and dying ! The veteran, with the stripling of a day. 
The nameless trooper, and the leader of a hundred hosts. 
Friend lies by friend. The steed with his rider. And 
foes, linked in their long embrace — their first and last — 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 247 

the gripe of death. Far o'er the field they lie, a gorgeous 
prey to ruin ! White plume and steel morion ; saber and 
yataghan ; crescent and cross ; rich vest and bright 
corselet : — we came to thefight, as we had come to a feast- 
ing ; glorious and glittering, even in death, each shining 
warrior lies ! 

His last glance still seeks that Christian banner ! 
The cry that shall never be repeated, cheers on its last 
charge ! " Oh, but for strength to reach the field once 
more ! to die in the foe's front ! " Peace, dreamer ! Thou 
hast done well. Thy place in the close rank is rilled ; 
and yet another waits for his who holds it. 

Knight, hast thou yet a thought? bend it on Heav- 
en ! The past. Ms gone; the future lies before thee. 
Gaze on yon gorgeous sky ; thy home should be beyond 
it ! Life, honor, love — -they pass to Him that gave them. 
Pride, that came on like ocean's billows — see round thee 
how it lies mute and passive. The wealthy here are poor. 
The high-born have no precedence. The strong are 
powerless ; the mean, content. The fair and lovely have 
no followers. Soldier ! she who sped thee on thy course 
to-day, her blue eyes shall seek thee in the conquering 
ranks to-morrow ; but they shall seek thee in vain ! Well ! . 
thus it is thou shouldst have died ! — worth all to live for. 
Wouldst thou be base to have thy death a blessing ? 
Proud necks shall mourn for thee. Bright eyes shall 
weep for thee. They that live envy thee. Death ! glory 
takes out thy sting. 

Warrior ! aye, the stream of that rill flows cool ; but 
thy lip no more shall taste it. The moonlight that 
silvers its white foam, shall glitter on thy corselet, when 
thy eye is closed and dim. Lo ! now the night is com- 
ing. The mist is gathering on the hill. The fox steals 



248 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

forth to seek his quarry, and the gray owl sweeps whirling 
by, rejoicing in the stillness. Oh, soldier ! how sweetly 
sounds thy lady's lute ! how fragrant are the dew-sprinkled 
flowers that twine round the casement from which she 
leafls ! that lute shall enchant thee, those flowers shall 
delight thee — no more. 

One other charge ! Soldier, it may not be. To thy 
saint and thy lady commend thee ! Hark to the low 
trumpet that sounds the recall ! Hark to its long note ; 
sweet is that sound in the ears of the spent and routed 
foe ! The victor hears it not. When the breath rose that 
blew that note, he lived ; its peal has rung, and his spirit 
has departed. Heath ! thou shouldst be the soldier's 
pillow ! Moon ! let thy cold light this nightfall upon him ! 
But, Morning ! thy soft dews shall tempt him not ! the 
soldier must wake no more. He sleeps the sleep of 
honor. His cause was his country's freedom, and her 
faith. He is dead ! The cross of a Christian knight is 
on his breast ; his lips are pressed to his lady's token. 

Soldier, farewell ! 



Rain on the Roof. 



When the humid shadows gather over all the starry spheres, 
And the melancholy darkness gently weeps in rainy tears, 
'Tis- a joy to press the pillow of a cottage chamber bed, 
And listen to the patter of the soft rain overhead. 

Every tinkle on the shingles has an echo in the heart, 

And a thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start ; 

And a thousand recollections weave their bright hues into woof, 

As I listen to the patter of the soft rain on the roof. 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 249 

There in fancy comes my mother, as she used to years agone, 
To survey the infant sleepers ere she left them till the dawn. 
I can see her bending o'er me, as I listen to the strain 
Which is played upon the shingles by the patter of the rain. 

Then my little seraph sister, with her wings and waving hair, 
And her bright-eyed, cherub brother — a serene, angelic pair — 
Glide around my wakeful pillow with their praise or mild reproof, 
As I listen to the murmur of the soft rain on the roof. 

And another comes to thrill me with her eyes' delicious blue, 
I forget, as gazing on her, that her heart was all untrue ; 
I remember that I loved her as I ne'er may love again, 
And my heart's quick pulses vibrate to the patter of the rain. 

There is naught in art's bravuras that can work with such a spell, 
In the spirit's pure, deep fountains, whence the holy passions well, 
As that melody ot nature — that subdued, subduing strain, 
Which is played upon the shingles by the patter of the rain. 

Coates Kinney. 



Cesar Crossing The Rubicon. 



A gentleman, Mr President, speaking of Caesar's be- 
nevolent disposition, and of the reluctance with which he 
had entered into the civil war, observes, " How long did 
he pause upon the brink of the Rubicon ? " How came 
he to the brink of that river ! How dared he cross it ! 
Shall private men respect the boundaries of private prop- 
erty and shall a man pay no respect to the boundaries of 
his country's rights? How dared he cross that river ! Oh, 
but he paused upon the brink ! He should have perished 
upon the brink ere he had crossed it ! Why did he pause ? 
Why does a man's heart palpitate when he is on the point 



250 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

of committing an unlawful deed ? Why does the very 
murderer, his victim sleeping before him, and his glaring 
eye taking the measure of the blow, strike wide of the 
mortal part ? Because of conscience ! 'Twas that made 
Caesar pause upon the brink of the Rubicon. Compas- 
sion ! What compassion ? The compassion of an assassin, 
that feels a momentary shudder as his weapon begins to 
cut ! 

Caesar paused upon the brink of the Rubicon ! What 
was the Rubicon ? The boundary of Caesar's province. 
From what did it separate his province ? From his coun- 
try. Was that country a desert ? No ; it was cultivated 
and fertile, rich and populous ! Its sons were men of gen- 
ius, spirit and generosity ! Its daughters were lovely, sus- 
ceptible, and chaste ! Friendship was its inhabitant 1 
Love was its inhabitant ! Domestic affection was its in- 
habitant ! Liberty was its inhabitant ! All bounded by 
the stream of the Rubicon ! What was Caesar, that stood 
upon the bank of that stream? A traitor, bringing war 
and pestilence into the heart of that' country. No won- 
der that he paused — no wonder if, his imagination wrought 
upon by his conscience, he had beheld blood instead of 
water, and heard groans instead of "murmurs ! No won- 
der, if somegorgon horror had turned him into stone upon 
the spot ! But, no ! — he cried, " The die is cast ! " He 
plunged ! — he crossed ! — and Rome was free no more ! 

Knowles. 



readings and recitations. 25 i 

The Life-Boat. 



Quick ! man the life-boat ! See yon bark 

That drives before the blast ! 
There's a rock ahead, the night is dark, 

And the storm comes thick and fast. 
Can human power in such an hour, 

Avert the storm that's o'er her ? 
Her mainmast's gone, but she still drives on 

To the fatal reef before her. 

The life-boat ! Man the life-boat ! 

Quick ! man the life-boat ! hark ! the gun 

Booms through the vapory air ; 
And see ! the signal flags are on, 

And speak the ship's despair. 
That forked flash, that pealing crash, 

Seemed from the wave to sweep her : 
She's on the rock, with a terrible shock, 

And the wail comes louder and deeper. 
The life-boat ! Man the life-boat ! 

Quick ! man the life-boat ! See — the crew 

Gaze on their watery grave : 
Already, some, a gallant few, 

Are battling with the wave ; 
And one there stands, and wrings his hands, 

As thoughts of home come o'er him ; 
For his wife and child, through the tempest wild, 

He sees on the hights before him. 
The life-boat ! Man the life-boat ! 

Speed, speed the life-boat ! Off she goes ! 

And, as they pulled the oar, 
From shore and ship a cheer arose, . 



25 2 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

That rang from ship to shore. 
Life-saving ark ! yon fated bark 

Has human lives within her ; 
And dearer than gold is the wealth untold, 

Thou'lt save, if thou canst win her. 
On, life-boat ! Speed thee, life-boat ! 

Hurrah ! the life-boat dashes on, 

Though darkly the reef may frown ; 
The rock is there — the ship is gone 

Full twenty fathoms down. 
But, cheered by hope, the seamen cope 

With the billows single-handed : 
They are all in the boat ; — hurrah ! they're afloat ! 

And now they are safely landed 

By the life-boat ! Cheer the life-boat ! 



The Miner's Reverie. 



Where the rocks were gray and the mountains steep, 
And the gulch below was dark and deep, 
Where the gnarled pines in their rugged pride 
Loomed gloomily up on either side; 
W T here the manzanitas lay crooked and thick, 
Where once was heard the shovel and pick; 
Where the shadows lay heavy upon the rocks, — 
There lies half-buried the old sluice-box. 

While lazily through, the water glides, 
Gently washing its mouldering sides, 
Sides that once were muddy and dim, 
From the yellow dirt that, was cast within. 
Across the stream on the gravel-heaps, 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 253 

The agile squirrel silently leaps, 

And the crested quail, twittering drops 

For his evening drink, in the old sluice-box. 

Oh, many a day with weary hand 

Have I tossed in its bed the glittering sand, 

And dreamed, as I leaned on its rotting side, 

Raking the depths of its turbid tide, 

Of father's gray hairs and dear mother's smile, 

And loved ones at home who were waiting, the while, 

The wanderer's return ; but Time sneeringly mocks 

At the days I toiled at the old sluice-box. 

From the moss-grown rock on which I lean, 
I gaze down into the sluggish stream — 
The face that I see has graver grown, 
And my voice, it seems, has a soberer tone, 
• And the wanton winds with my hair at play, 
Show to me now that my locks are gray. 
But my spirits were light, my hopes were high, 
In those happy days, — alas ! gone by, 
And I could welcome again the rough hard knocks 
At mining once more at the old sluice-box. 



Use and Misuse of Words. 



Rhetoric is not a knack, and fluency is not expression. 
The crop of ready writers, of correct writers, of elegant 
writers, of writers capable of using words in every mode 
but the right one, is already sufficiently large to meet the 
current demands for intellectual husk, chaff and stub- 
ble. The tendency of the time to divorce the body of 
words from the soul of expression, and to shrivel up Ian- 



254 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

guage into a mummy of thought, would seem to need 
the rein rather than the whip. The most cursory glance 
over much of the "literature " of the day, so called, will 
indicate the peculiar form of marasmus under which the 
life of language is in danger of being slowly consumed. 
The first condition of true expression is an effort of mind, 
which restrains rather than stimulates fluency. The ease 
with which accredited maxims derived through the ear 
can be attached to words which have been decoyed 
through the same populous thoroughfare, offers a desper- 
ate temptation to avoid the trouble equally of thinking 
and expressing. 

All moralizing and all preaching are ineffective which 
do not thus strike through the understanding directly at 
the will, and purify and invigorate the sources of moral 
and religious action. But to do this requires a face-to- 
face knowledge of the truth to be driven home, — vivid 
inward experience poured out in living, breathing, palpi- 
tating words. What is really wanted, therefore, "to facil- 
itate the expression of ideas," is something which will 
facilitate the conception of ideas. What is really wanted 
"to assist in literary composition," is a true philosophy 
of expression, founded on a knowledge of the nature and 
operation of the mind, and of the vital processes by 
which thought incarnates itself in words. Expression, 
direct or suggestive, is thought in the words or through 
the words, and not thought and the words. Thought 
implies two elements, the subject thinking and the object 
thought. When the process of thinking reaches that de- 
gree of intensity in which the object of thought is seen in 
clear vision, — when the thinking mind comes into direct 
contact with the objective thing or idea it has "felt after" 
and found, the words which it then weaves into the visible 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 255 

garment of its mingled emotion and conception are 
words surcharged and flooded with life, — words which 
are living things, endowed with the power, not only to 
communicate ideas, but convey, as by spiritual conduct- 
ors, the shock and thrill which attends their conception. 
Instead of being mere barren signs of abstract notions, 
they become media through which the life of one mind 
is radiated into other minds. 

They inspire as well as inform ; invigorate as well as 
enlighten. 

Such language is the spiritual body of the thinker, 
which never dies or grows old, but has a relative immor- 
tality on earth, and makes him a contemporary with all 
succeeding generations ; for in such language not only 
are thoughts embodied, but words are ensouled. 

Every writer whose aim is not to appear, but to be, and 
who directs his powers to the expression of what he really 
is, succeeds, at least, in making himself readable ; for 
such a writer urges no opinions which have not been do- 
mesticated in his own understanding, testifies to no facts 
which are not realities to his own consciousness, and 
uses no words which he has not earned the right to use 
by testing their conformity to his own impressions or in- 
sight. And it is curious how flexible language becomes 
when a writer's vocabulary is thus limited by his intel- 
lectual character, and with what ease a few words do the 
whole business of expression. 

A presiding personality, indeed, acts as a magnet ; all 
related words come tripping to it, as if eager and glad to 
leave their limbo of generality and to form part of a new 
organism ; to feel through their shrunken veins the flow 
and throb of fresh, warm blood, and to partake in the 
rapture of individual existence. The language really be- 



256 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

comes alive, and thus, too, books attain the power to live. 
All others, after a few convulsive efforts, die and are 
forgotten, or are known only to the antiquary who prowls 
among the cemeteries of letters, reading inscriptions on 
tombstones. 

E. P. Whipple. 



The Courtship of Larry O'Dee. 

Now the widow McGhee 

And Larry O'Dee 

Had two little cottages out on the green, 

With just enough room for two pig pens~between. 

The widow was young and the widow was fair, 

With the brightest of eyes, and the brownest of hair; 

And it frequently chanced when she came in the morn 

With the swill for the pig, Larry came with the corn; 

And some of the ears that he tossed with his hand, 

In the pen of the widow was certain to land. 

One morning, said he, 

' Och! Misthress McGhee, 
It's a waste of good lumber, this running two rigs, 
Wid a fancy petition betwane our two pigs." 

' Indade, sure it is! " answered Widow McGhee, 
W T ith the sweetest of smiles upon Larry O'Dee, 

' And thin it looks kind o' hard-hearted and mane, 
Raisin' two friendly pigs so exsaidingly near, 
That whinever one grunts, thin the othei can hear, 
And yet kape a cruel petition betwane." 

' Shwate Misthress McGhee," 

Answered Larry O'Dee, 
' If ye fale in yer heart we are mane to the pigs, 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 257 

Ain't we mane to oursilves to be running two rigs ? 

Och, it made me heart ache when I paked thro' the cracks 

Of me shanty lasht March at yez swingin' yer ax, 

Wid yer purty white hands just as red as a bate, 

(Though I really must say that yez handled it nate) 

A sphlitten yer kindlin' wood out in the shtorm, 

Whin one little stove it would kape us both warm." 

' Now piggy," said she, 

' Larry's courtin' o' me, 
Wid his delicate, tender allusions to you : 
So now yez must tell me just what I must do ; 
For, if I'm to say ' yes,' shtir the swill wid yer shnout, 
But if I'm to say ' no,' yez must kape yer nose out. 
Now Larry for shame ! to be bribin' a pig, 
By a tossin' a Handful o' corn in his shwig ! " 

' Me darlint, the piggy says yes ! " answered he, — 
And that was the courtship of Larry O'Dee. 



Tell's Apostrophe to the Alps. 



Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again! 

I hold to you the hands you first beheld, 

To show they still are free. Methinks I hear 

A spirit in your echoes answer me, 

And bid your tenant welcome to his home 

Again! — O sacred forms, how proud you look! 

How high you lift your heads into the sky! 

How huge you are! How mighty, and how free! 

Ye are the things that tower, that shine, — whose smile 

Makes glad, whose frown is terrible, whose forms, 

Robed or unrobed, do all the impress wear 

Of awe divine. Ye guards of liberty, 



258 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

I'm with you once again! — I call to you 
With all my voice! — I hold my hands to you, 
To show they still are free. I rush to you 
As though I could embrace you! 

Scaling yonder peak 
I saw an eagle wheeling near its brow 
O'er the abyss: — his broad-expanded wmgs 
Lay calm and motionless upon the air, 
As if he floated there without their aid, 
By the sole act of his unlorded will, 
That buoyed him proudly up. Instinctively 
I bent my bow; yet kept he rounding still 
His airy circle, as in the delight 
Of measuring the ample range beneath 
And round about; absorbed, he heeded not 
The death that threatened him. I could not shoot— 
Twas liberty! — I turned my bow aside, 
And let him soar away! 

Knowles. 



Napoleon Bonaparte. 



If Napoleon's fortune was great, his genius was trans- 
cendent ; decision flashed upon his counsels ; and it was 
the same to decide and to perform. To inferior intel- 
lects, his combinations appeared perfectly impossible, 
his plans perfectly impracticable ; but., in his hands, 
simplicity marked their development, and success vindi- 
cated their adoption. 

His person partook the character of his mind — if the 
one never yielded in the cabinet, the other never bent 
in the field. Nature had no obstacles that he did no t 
surmount — space no opposition that he did not spurn . 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 259 

and, whether amid Alpine rocks, Arabian sands, or polar 
snows, he seemed proof against peril, and empowered 
with ubiquity ! The whole continent of Europe trembled 
at beholding the audacity of his designs, and the miracle 
of their execution. Skepticism bowed to the prodigies 
of his performance ; romance assumed the air of history ; 
nor was there aught too incredible for belief, or too 
fanciful for expectation, when the world saw a subaltern 
of Corsica waving his imperial flag over her most ancient 
capitals. All the visions of antiquity became common 

places in his contemplation ; kings were his people 

nations were his outposts ; and he disposed of courts, 
and crowns, and camps, and churches, and cabinets, as 
if they were the titular dignitaries of the chess-board ! 

Through the pantomime of his policy, fortune played 
the clown to his caprices. At his touch, crowns crumbled, 
beggars reigned, systems vanished, the wildest theories 
took the color of his whim, and all that was venerable, 
and all that was novel, changed places with the rapidity 
of a drama. Even apparent defeat assumed the appear- 
ance of victory — his flight from Egypt confirmed his 
destiny — ruin itself only elevated him to empire. Amid 
all these changes he stood immutable as adamant. It 
mattered little whether in the field or the drawing-room, 
with the mob or the levee, wearing the Jacobin bonnet 
or the iron crown — banishing a Braganza, or espousing a 
Hapsburg — dictating peace on a raft to the czar of 
Russia, or contemplating defeat at the gallows of Leip- 
sic — he was still the same military despot ! 

Phillips. 



260 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



Rienzi's Address to the Romans. 



I come not here to talk. You know too well 
The story of our thralldom. We are slaves ! 
The bright sun rises to his course and lights 
A race of slaves ! He sets, and his last beams 
Fall on a slave ; not such as swept along 
By the full tide of power, the conqueror led 
To crimson glory and undying fame : 
But base, ignoble slaves ; slaves to a horde 
Of petty tyrants, feudal despots, lords, 
Rich in some dozen paltry villages ; 
Strong in some hundred spearmen ; only great 
In that strange spell — a name. 

Each hour, dark fraud, 
Or open rapine, or protected murder, 
Cry out against them. But this very day 
An honest man, my neighbor — there he stands — 
Was struck — struck like a dog, by one who wore 
The badge of Ursini ; because, forsooth, 
He tossed not high his ready cap in air, 
Nor lifted up his voice in servile shouts, 
At sight of that great ruffian ! Be we men, 
And suffer such dishonor ? men, and wash not 
The stain away in blood ? Such shames are common : 
I have known deeper wrongs ; I, that speak to ye, 
I had a brother once — a gracious boy, 
Full of gentleness, of calmest hope, 
Of sweet and quiet joy : there was the look 
Of heaven upon his face, which limners give 
To the beloved disciple. 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS, 26 1 

How I loved 
That gracious boy ! Younger by fifteen years, 
Brother at once, and son ! He left my side, 
A summer bloom on his fair cheek, a smile 
Parting his innocent lips. In one short hour, 
That pretty, harmless boy was slain ! I saw 
The corse, the mangled corse, and then I cried 
For vengeance ! Rouse, ye Romans ! rouse, ye slaves ! 
Have ye brave sons ? Look in the next fierce brawl 
To see them die. Have ye fair daughters ? Look 
To see them live, torn from your arms, distained, 
Dishonored ; and if ye dare call for justice, 
Be answered by the lash ! 

Yet this is Rome, 
That sat on her seven hills, and, from her throne 
Of beauty, ruled the world ! Yet we are Romans ! 
Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman, 
Was greater than a king ! and once again — 
Hear me, ye walls, that echoed to the tread 
Of either Brutus ! ones, again, I swear, 
The eternal city shall be free. 

Miss Mitford. 



Women All at Sea. 



There is no subject on which woman is more hopeless- 
ly afloat than on matters relating to marine architecture. 
Such knowledge doesn't stick in her brain. The captain 
who attempted to teach nauticalism to a party of ladies 
on a yacht, not long since, fared as follows : 

Lady No. i. — Now, Captain, what is a sloop? 

Captain. — A sloop has but one mast. 



262 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

L. — (Pointing to a schooner) — Is that a sloop ? 

C. — No; that is a schooner. A sloop has but one 
mast ; a schooner has two, as you see. Now, remember 
sloop, one mast ; schooner, two. 

L. — Certainly. How many masts has a ship ? 

C— Three. 

L. — How many masts did you say a sloop has? 

C. — One. Sloop, one mast ; Schooner, two ; ship, 
three. 

L. — (Pointing to a sloop) — Is that a schooner ? 

C. — No ; that's a sloop. Sloop, one mast ; schooner, 
two ; ship, three. 

L. — Oh yes, I remember. Isn't that a pretty schooner ? 

C. — That's not a schooner. That's a ship. Don't you 
see it has three masts ? 

L. — Oh, yes. Isn't that a big schooner lying at the 
wharf, there ? 

C. — Schooner ? Now, how many masts has that ves- 
sel? 

L.— Three. 

C. — Well, what has three masts ? 

L. — A sloop. 

C. — Sloop ! Sloop has one mast, I tell you ; schooner, 
two ; ship, three. 

Lady No. 2. — Why, Jane, how stupid you are. A 
schooner always has one mast. 

L. — '(Chatty, and quite oblivious of stupidity) — What 
is a brig? 

C. — A brig has two masts and is rigged like a ship, 
with square sails. 

Lady No. 2.— Jane, look at this brig coming along. 

C. — That's a schooner ; don't you see two masts. Sloop, 
one mast ; schooner, two masts ; ship, three masts. 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 263 

L. — Are those schooners there with three masts? 

C— Yes. 

L. — I thought you said a schooner had but one mast ? 

C. — Two ! two masts ! Sloop, one mast ; schooner, 
two ; ship, three. 

L. — But that schooner has three masts. 

C. — Well, it is a three-masted schooner. 

L. — Then a schooner can have any number of masts? 

C. — No ; sloop, one mast ; schooner, two, sometimes 
three masts ; and a ship, three masts. 

L. — I'm sure I can't make it out. It's awfully puzzling. 
What is a barque? 

C. — (Unable any longer to popularize nautical science, 
falls back on technical expression.) Vessel with two 
masts, ship-rigged, and one mast sloop-rigged ; square 
sails on 'the fore and main-mast, and fore and aft sails 
on the mizzen. 

L. — Mizzen ! What is a mizzen ? 

C. — Last mast aft. 

L. — Aft! What's the aft? 

C. — The stern, madam. 

L. — Oh, I'm sure I can't make it out. Is that a sloop 
there? (Pointing again to a schooner.) 

C. — No ; it's a schooner. Sloop, one mast ; schooner, 
two ; ship, three. 

L. — How many masts has a man-o'-war ? 

C. — Three. 

L. — Well, what's the difference between a man-of-war 
and a smack? 

C. — (Groans and is silent.) 

L. — What are those sticks across the masts of that 
schooner, Captain ? 

C. — That's not a schooner ; schooner, two masts : 



264 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

ship, three ; .sloop, one. That's a ship. Those are the 
yards which hold the sails. 

L.— Oh ! 

C. — (Encouraged.) Now the first yard on the fore- 
mast is the fore yard. The second is the fore topsail 
yard ; the third is the fore gallant yard. 

L. — What is that yard sticking straight out of that little 
schooner? 

C. — Great Scott ! That's not a schooner, it's a sloop. 
Sloop, one mast ; schooner, two ; ship, three. What you 
called her yard is her mast. 

Lady No. 2. — Certainly, Jane. How stupid you are ! 
Captain, what are the names of the other masts on that 
schooner's yards you were pointing out to us ? 

C. — (Internally) . 

Lady No. 2. — Captain where are the lubbers? 

C. — (Wishes he could tell her.) Up there on that 
ships masts near the tops. 

L. — (Looking attentively at a schooner.) — Near the 
top of the masts of that sloop ? 

C. — No, no ; further down. Where the futtock shrouds 
are fastened. No, no ; not that vessel. A schooner has 
no lubbers, ( mentally) except this one, and they're on deck. 

L. — (Whose interest in the locating of lubbers suddenly 
ceases.) — Isn't that a pretty ship sailing along ? 

C. — Ship ! That's an old tub of a schooner ma'am. 
Schooner, two masts ; ship, three ; sloop, .one ; I tell you. 

L. — Can a sloop have two masts ? 

C. — Sloop, one mast ; schooner, two ; ship, three. 

Lady No. 2. — How many masts has a ship, Captain? 

C. — Ship, three masts ; schooner, two ; sloop, one. 

L. — Yes. I know. Schooner, one— no, two masts ; 
sloop, two — no, three ; ship one. There ! — 

JV, Y. Graphic, 



readings and recitations. 265 

Cassius Against Cesar. 



Honor is the subject of my story. — 
I can not tell what you and other men 
Think of this life; but for my single self, 
I had as lief not be, as live to be 
In awe of such *a thing as I myself. 
I was born as free as Caesar; so were you; 
We have both ted as well; and we can both 
Endure the winter's cold as well as he. 

For, once upon a raw and gusty day, 
The troubled Tiber, chafing with her shores, 
Caesar said to me — Darest thou, Cassius, now 
Leap in zvith me, into this angry flood, 
And swim to yonder point ? — Upon the word, 
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, 
And bade him follow: so, indeed he did. 
The torrent roared; and we did buffet it 
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside 
And stemming it, with hearts of controversy. 
But ere we could arrive the point proposed, 
Caesar cried — Help me, Cassius, or I sink. 

I, as .Eneas, our great ancestor, 
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder 
The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tiber 
Did I the tired Caesar: and this man 
Is now become a god; and Cassius is 
A wretched creature, and must bend his body, 
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. 

He had a fever when he w T as in Spain, 
And, when the fit was on him, I did mark 



266 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

How he did shake; 'tis true, this god did shake; 

His coward lips did from their color fly; 

And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world, 

Did lose his luster; I did hear him groan; 

Aye, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans 

Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, 

Alas ! it cried — Give me some drink, Titinius, 

As a sick girl. 

Ye gods! it doth amaze me, 
A man of such ieeble temper should 
So get the start of the majestic world, 
And bear the palm alone. 

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world, 
Like a Colossus, and we petty men 
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about, 
To find ourselves dishonorable graves. 

Men at some time are masters of their fates: 
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. 
Brutus, and Ccesar ! What should be in that Caesar? 
Why should that name be sounded more than yours? 
Write them together, yours is as fair a name; 
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; 
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them, 
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Ccesar. 

Now in the name of all the gods at once, 
Upon what meats doth this our Caesar feed, 
That he hath grown so great? Age, thou art shamed! 
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods! 
When went there by an age, since the great flood, 
But it was famed with more than with one man ? 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 267 

Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough, 
When there is in it but one only man. 
Oh! you, and I have heard our fathers say, 
There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd 
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome, 
As easily as a king. 

* Shakespeare. 



Marullus to the Roman Populace. 



Wherefore rejoice, that Caesar comes in triumph ? 
What conquest brings he home ? 
What tributaries follow him to Rome, 
To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels? 
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things ! 

O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome ! 
Knew ye not Pompey ? Many a time and oft 
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, 
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops, 
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat 
The live-long day, with patient expectation, 
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome ; 
And when you saw his chariot but appear, 
Have you not made a universal shout, 
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks, 
To hear the replication of your sounds, 
Made in her concave shores ? 

And do you now put on your best attire ? 
And do you now cull out a holiday ? 
And do you now strew flowers in his way, 
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood ? 
Begone ! 



268 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. v 

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, 
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague 
That needs must light on this ingratitude ! 

Shakespeare . 

Sounds. 



The whistle of the locomotive penetrates my woods 
summer and winter. I watch the passage of the morning 
cars with the same feeling that I do the rising of the sun, 
which is hardly more regular. The train of clouds 
stretching far behind and rising higher, going to heaven 
while the cars are going to Boston, conceals the sun for a 
minute and casts my farther field into the shade. 

At evening, the distant lowing of some cow in the hori- 
zon beyond the woods sounds sweet and melodious. 

The whippoorwills chant their vespers for half an hour, 
sing at intervals throughout the night, and are again as 
musical as ever just before and about the dawn. 

When other birds are still, the screech-owls take up the 
strain. I am also serenaded by a hooting-owl. Near at 
hand you could fancy it the most melancholy sound in 
Nature. It reminds me of ghouls, and idiots, and insane 
howlings. But now one answers from far woods in a 
strain made really melodious by distance. 

I rejoice that there are owls. Let them do the idiotic 
and maniacal hooting for men. Their sounds are admir- 
ably suited to the swamps and twilight woods which no 
day illustrates, suggesting a vast and undeveloped nature 
which men have not recognized. They represent the 
stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all have.. 

Thoreau. 



readings and recitations. 269 

Voices of the Wildwood. 



"Voices of the Wildwood," written for Voice Culture and Elocution, 
is an example of onomatopeceia versification, and is founded upon the legend 
of "Deirdre." 

As I was straying through a wood, 

All dark and dense and wild, 
I came upon a palace wall. 

And found myself beguiled 
By the bubbling notes of innocence, — 

The laughter of a child. 
Safe was she within her world, 

And I was just outside ; 
A fairy child she seemed to me, 

It cannot be denied ; 
For she was calling flocks of birds, 

That came from far and wide. 
A merry, trilling cry 

Came o'er the palace-wall : 
" Ha ! ha ! ha ! here am I ! 

. Why, don't you hear me call ? 

Come, froggy, birdlings, squirrel, too ! 
Don't you hear me calling you ? 

" Ha ! ha ! ha ! come this way, 
You darlings, every one ! 
I'm broken-hearted, quite, to-day, 
The clouds are o'er the sun." 

Then rose a suddden sound of glee, 
" Sweet ! well ? what d'ye think o' me ? " 
Brightly. m m 




Sweet! Well, what d'ye think o' me' 



270 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

" Oh, meadow-lark, you darling dear, 

You're always first to speak, 

Come, rest upon my shoulder here, 

And press against my cheek." 

And then she sang most merrily : 
" Sweet ! well ? what d'ye think o' me ? " 
Brightly. m m 



=* 



: 1 j — p 



m 



Sweet ! Well, what d'ye think o' uu 

" Old froggy, down there, wet and cool, 
Now, what have you to say ? 
Are you happy in your pool, 
And how d'ye feel, to-day ? " 

The frog his sweetest tone now tried, 
■But " Ugly ! Ugly ! " hoarse he cried. 

" I'm sorry ! " then responded she, 

Yet laughing at the jest, 
" Oh, faithful wood-dove ! answer me ! 
Whom do you love the best ? " 

The bird puffed out his purple sheen, 

And cooed, " My queen ! my queen ! my queen ! 

" You frisky squirrel on the wall, 
Have you no message, say ? 
Some message from the tree-tops, tall, 
To lonesome Deirdre ? " 

The squirrel sat with tail up-curled, 

And cried, " Come up and see the world ! " 



' Oh, tiny bird with nodding head, 
What fate is waiting me ? 
Shall my true love and I be wed ? 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 



2 7 I 



Oh ! what is Fate's decree ? " 

The brown bird moaned as he sang above, 
" Farewell, my love ! farewell, my love ! "' 

P- 




Fare - well, 



my 



love - 



I turned away, I had no choice, 
For I could not bear to stay, 
And hear the sobs of that childish voice, 
The child in her sad dismay. 

And the brown bird moaned in the tree above : 
" Farewell, my love ! farewell, my love ! " 

P- 







Fare-well, 
pp. 



my 



love 



ppp 



inztn /_tt tt J 



Fare - well. 



my love - 

Ella Sterling Cummins. 



*May be heard in the high Sierras, a species of fly-catcher, 



272 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

A Similar Case. 



Jack, I hear you've gone and done it,- 

Yes, I know ; most fellows will ; 
Went and tried it once myself, sir, 

Though you see I'm single still. 
And you met her — did you tell me, 

Down at Newport, last July, 
And resolved to ask the question 

At a soiree? So did I. 

I suppose you left the ball-room, 

With its music and its light ; 
For they say love's flame is brightest 

In the darkness of the night. 
Well, you walked along together, 

Overhead the starlit sky ; 
And I'll bet — old man, confess it — 

You were frightened. So was I. 

So you strolled along the terrace, 
Saw the summer moonlight pour 

All its radiance on the waters, 
As they rippled on the shore, 

Till at length you gathered courage, 
When you saw that none was nigh — 

Did you draw her close and tell her 
That you loved her ? So did I. 

Well, I needn't ask you further, 
And I'm sure I wish you joy. 
Think I'll wander down and see you 
When you're married — eh, my boy ? 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 273 

When the honeymoon is over 

And you're settled down, we'll try — 

What ? the deuce you say ! 

Rejected, you rejected ? So was I. 



The Study of Nature. 



The history of humanity, in its efforts to understand 
the Creation, resembles the development of any individ- 
ual mind engaged in the same direction. It has its in- 
fancy, with the first recognition of surrounding objects ; 
and, indeed, the early observers seem to us like children 
in their first attempts to understand the world in which 
they live. But these efforts, that appear childish to us 
now, were the first steps in that field of knowledge which 
is so extensive that all our progress seems only to show us 
how much is left to do. 

In this country there is a growing interest in the study 
of Nature ; but while there exist hundreds of elementary 
works illustrating the native animals of Europe, there are 
few such books here to satisfy the demand for information 
respecting the animals of our land and water. We are 
thus forced to turn more and more to our own investiga- 
tions and less to authority ; and the true method of obtain- 
ing independent knowledge is this very Method of Cuvier's, 
comparison. 

The education of a naturalist now consists chiefly in 
learning how to compare. If he have any power of gen- 
eralization, when he has collected his facts, this habit of 
mental comparison will lead him up to principles, anfl to 
the great laws of combination. It must not discourage 
us that the progress is a slow and laborious one, and the 
results of one lifetime after all very small. It might seem 



274 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

invidious, were I to show here how small' is the sum total 
of the work accomplished even by the great exceptional 
men, whose names are known throughout the civilized 
world. But I may at least be permitted to speak disparag- 
ingly of my own efforts, and to sum up in the fewest 
words the result of my life's work. I have devoted my " 
whole life to the study of Nature, and yet a single sentence 
may express all that I have done. I have shown that there 
is a correspondence, between the succession of Fishes in 
geological times and the different stages of their growth 
in the egg, — this is all. It chanced to be a result that 
was found to apply to other groups and has led to other 
conclusions of a like nature. But, such as it is, it has 
been reached by this system of comparison, which, though 
I speak of it now in its application to the study of Natural 
History, is equally important in every other branch of 
knowledge. By the same process the most natural re- 
sults of scientific research in Philology, in Ethnology, 
and in Physical Science are reached. And let me say 
that the community should foster the purely intellectual 
efforts of scientific men as carefully as they do their ele- 
mentary school and their practical institutions, generally 
considered so much more useful and important to the 
public. -For, from what other source shall we derive the 
higher results that are gradually woven into the practical 
resources of our life, except from the researches of those 
very men who study science, not for its uses, but for its 
truth ? It is this that gives it its noblest interest ; it 
must be for truth's sake, and not even for the sake of its 
usefulness to humanity, that the scientific man studies 
Nature. The application of science to the useful arts 
requires other abilities, other qualities, other tools than his; 
and therefore I say that the man of science who follows 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 275 

his studies into their practical application is false to his 
calling. The practical man stands ever ready to take 
up the work where the scientific man leaves it, and to 
adapt it to the material wants and uses of daily life. 

L. Agassiz. 



The Petrified Fern. 



In a valley, centuries ago, 
Grew a little fern-leaf, green and slender, 
Veining delicate, and fibres tender ; 

Waving, when the wind crept down so low. 
Rushes tall, and moss, and grass' grew round it, 
Playful sunbeams darted in and found it, 
Drops of dew stole in by night and crown'd it. 

But no foot of man e'er trod that way ; 

Earth was young and keeping holiday. 

Monster fishes swam the silent main, 

Stately forests waved their giant branches, 
Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches, 

Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain : 
Nature revelled in grand mysteries, 
But the little fern was not of these, 
Did not number with the hills and trees ; 

Only grew tfnd waved its wild, sweet way, 

None ever came to note it day by day. 

Earth, one time, put on a frolic mood, 

Heaved the rocks, and changed the mighty motion 

Of the deep strong currents of the ocean, 
Moved the plain and shook the haughty wood, 

Crushed the little fern in soft, moist clay, 

Covered it and hid it safe away. 



276 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

O the long, Ions: centuries since that day. 
O, the agony ! O life's bitter cost 
Since that useless little fern was lost ! 

Useless ? Lost ? There came a thoughtful man, 
Searching Nature's secrets, far and deep ; 
From a fissure in a rocky steep 

He withdrew a stone, o'er which there ran 
Fairy pencillings, a quaint design, 
Veinings, leafage, fibres clear and fine, 
And the fern's life lay in every line ! 

So, I think, God hides some souls away, 

Sweetly to surprise us, the last day. 



An Incident at Sea. 



While on my return from Europe, about mid way of 
the Atlantic, it was my good fortune to behold a sight of 
transcendent beauty that few persons have ever seen. 
Our good ship was under full sail, with a light breeze that 
bore her lazily along over a gentle sea. 

The last rays of a gorgeous sunset had faded from the 
sky, and darkness closed gently down upon the bosom of 
the deep. Leaning against the windward taff-rail, my 
mind gradually became wrapped in a meditation born of 
that profound loneliness ^vith which only night upon the 
ocean inspires one. The helmsman stood silent at the 
wheel : the officer paced his lone and measured tread ; 
the lookout reclined lazily near the shrouds, anxiously 
longing for the " eight bells " that brings relief to a tire- 
some watch. No sound was heard, save now and then 
the creak of the cordage, or the occasional sough of the 
water against the vessel's prow. But the whisperings of 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 277 

these light waves seemed to make the silence even more 
profound. 

Slowly aroused from my reverie, I became conscious 
of a gentle light that overspread a portion of the 
eastern sky. A single spot on the horizon grew more 
golden, and the upper limb of the moon peered above 
the ocean's edge, followed by the round shield of the full 
orb that shot her beams across the surface of the silent 
deep. From our lonely ship to her smiling face lay a 
tempting highway, paved with shimmering gold. 

Just as Luna lifted herself above the horizon, a distant 
ship, before unseen, sailed calmly and majestically into 
view, and remained for a moment stamped like a sil- 
houette upon the broad golden surface. It was too 
grand to be only pretty, too exquisitely beautiful to be 
merely sublime. For a few moments I stood like one en- 
tranced, gazing in silent rapture upon the most wonderful 
sight that nature ever painted for mortal eyes. But while 
I looked, slowly and silently the vessel moved from off 
the golden disk, and mysteriously passed into the obscur- 
ity whence she came, — like a beautiful picture of 
the mind that comes, we know not whence, and goes we 
know not where. 

Other scenes may fade, the names of old-time friends 
be forgotten, but never from memory's page shall be 
erased that beautiful picture of the full moon, so lightly 
resting upon the ocean's edge, and the ship in full sail 
covering her disk. Nor shall the recollection ever grow 
dim of how my heart in profound gratitude and joy, was 
lifted from that sublimely radiant sight in nature, up to 
nature's God. 

Wm. 2. J? oss. 



278 voice culture and elocution. 

Grandpa's Nap. 



Old Age sat by the hearth-stone, 
That slab hard by the tomb, 
Slow weaving faded menvries 
Upon his worn out loom. 

Fast as he wove the fabric, 
It vanished in the air ; 
The warp and woof were faded, 
Like to the old man's hair. 

Anon he drops the shuttle 
And lays his pipe away — 
The thread, a hair soon broken, 
The thread is silver gray. 

" Here, grandpa, take your darling 
And rock her in your lap ; 
You both look rather sleepy 
And need your mid-day nap." 

And soon they both are dozing ; 
His cheek to her he bends ; 
Young May and old December ! 
The year nods at both ends. 

Fresh bud by withered flower ; 
Old silver with new gold ; 
Old Time his hour-glass holding ; 
That's what the picture told. 

A knock — " Come in dear neighbor, 
The nodding's just begun, 
So don't disturb my babies." 
" I thought you had but one ! " 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 279 

" O, yes ! we have two children ; 
See those two cradles there, 
With pillows soft and cushioned, 
And rockers each a pair. 

And both rock on the hearth -stone, 
The home's unwritten page — 
Each holds for us a baby 
But diffring in their age. 

One's empty in the night-time, 
The other through the day, 
For grandpa takes, with Edna, 
His nap no other way." 

And so these women chatted, 
As none but women can, 
Till, through the open door-way, 
Walked in the husband-man. 

He kissed the good wife fondly, 
Gazed on the sleeping pair, 
Till love-tears choked his looking, 
Then shook the old arm-chair. 

" Come, grandpa ! Wake up, grandpa ! 
My turn for Edna now. " 
Then wiped the perspiration 
From off the old man's brow 

With kerchief, but unconscious 
The moisture there was cold ; 
Then tried to lift the baby ; 
But grandpa kept his hold. 

The sun falls through the casement 
Upon his silver hair, 



28o VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



A path he followed upward, 
Hard after his last prayer. 

As if to take her with him, 
He clasped his Edna dear ; 
But old men are forgetful, 
He left her nodding here. 

There's crape upon the hearth-stone, 
There's crape upon the door, 
There's crape upon the arm-chair 
That holds him nevermore. 

Fred Emerson Brooks. 



Marmion Taking Leave of Douglas. 

The train from out the castle drew ; 
But Marmion stopped to bid adieu — 
" Though something I might 'plain," he said, 
1 Of cold respect to stranger guest, 
Sent hither by your king's behest, 

While in Tantallon's towers I stayed — 
Part we in friendship from your land, 
And, noble earl, receive my hand." 

But Douglas round him drew his cloak, 
Folded his arms, and thus he spoke : 
' My manors, halls and bowers, shall still 
Be open, at my sovereign's will, 
To each one whom he lists, howe'er 
Unmeet to be the owner's peer. 
My castles are my king's alone, 
From turret to foundation-stone — 
The hand of Douglas is his own ; 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. ■ 

And never shall in friendly grasp 

The hand of such as Marmion clasp ! '" 

Burned Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire, 
And shook his very frame for ire, 

And — " This to me ! " he said ; 
' An 't were not for thy hoary beard, 
Such hand as Marmion's had not spared 

To cleave the Douglas' head ! 
And first I tell thee, haughty peer, 
He who does England's message here, 
Although the meanest in her state, 
May well, proud Angus, be thy mate ! 
And, Douglas, more I tell thee here, 

Even in thy pitch of pride, 
Here, in thy hold, thy vassals near,' 
(Nay, never look upon your lord, 
And lay your hands upon your sword,) 

I tell thee, thou'rt defied ! 
And if thou saidst I am not peer 
To any lord in Scotland here, 
Lowland or Highland, far or near, 

Lord Angus, thou hast lied ! : ' 

On the earl's cheek the flush of rage 
O'ercame the ashen hue of age ; 
Fierce he broke forth : "And darest thou, then, 
To beard the lion in his den — 

The Douglas in his hall ? 
And hopest thou hence unscathed to go ? 
No, by Saint Bride ot Bothwell, no ! 
Up drawbridge, grooms ! — what, warder, ho ! 

Let the portcullis fall." 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Lord Marmion turned — well was his need — 
And dashed his rowels in his steed ; 
Like arrow through the archway sprung, 
The ponderous gate behind him rung ; 
To pass, there was such scanty room, 
The bars, descending, grazed his plume. 
The steed along the drawbridge flies, 
Just as it trembled on the rise : 
Not lighter does the swallow skim 
Along the smooth lake's level brim : 
And when Lord Marmion reached his band, 
He halts, and turns with clenched hand, 
A shout of loud defiance pours, 
And shakes his gauntlet at the towers ! 

Scott. 



Extract from a Lecture on Thackeray. 



Vanity Fair ! What a wonderful work of art ! Where, 
in the world of literature, will you meet its equal ? 
Witty, brilliant, satiric, hard, wicked, fascinating, it is as 
if the actual " Vanity Fair " had flitted over its transcriber's 
page and left its impress there. The novel shows how 
hollow the whole world is — how fickle, how unhappy, how 
transitory, how full of sham and whatever else that is 
unprofitable and unsatisfying. Yet, like the world, the 
book is singularly alluring ; but it is an unpleasant story 
that is told. There is a taste of the bitter after its 
perusal ; ashes are strewn over it ; it reminds us of the 
old song in Bulwer's Last of the Barons — " Foul is fair, 
and fair is foul ; " but if it were not all this, it could not 
be just what it purports to be — a transcript of life. 

The title — Vanity Fair — while it does not add to the 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 283 

value of the story, has a telling force, nevertheless, prov- 
ing sufficiently how much, after all, there is in a name ; 
for, imagine some other, and you would detract from the 
perfectness of the whole, as well as from the ingenious 
selection of the author. Who that has read, can easily 
forget the characters in this remarkable work ? It has 
often been observed that Thackeray has neither heroes 
nor heroines in his books, and the full title of the tale 
under consideration runs : "Vanity Fair — A Novel with- 
out a Hero" — without a hero perhaps, not, certainly, 
without a heroine. Who could oppose Becky Sharp's 
claim ? See the care, solicitude, minute concern, amount- 
ing almost to affection, on the part of the great novelist 
. for this, his greatest conception. It is no sign of in- 
feriority that Thackeray designedly makes Becky con- 
sistent throughout, although she is a woman. 

Is it a fault or a merit in Thackeray's novels that we 
admire the wicked people and endure the good? Cer- 
tainly the master of fiction does make all his bad 
characters clever, both men and women, and his good 
ones stupid. This fact might be urged in weighing 
Thackeray's claims as one of the greatest novelists. 

G. S. Mead. 



Catiline's Defiance. 



Conscript Fathers, 
I do not rise to waste the night in words; 
Let that Plebeian talk; 'tis not my trade; 
But here I stand for right, — let him show proofs, — 
For Roman right; though none, it seems, dare stand 
To take their share with me. Ay, cluster there! 
Cling to your master, judges, Romans, slaves ! 



284 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

His charge is false; — I dare him to his proofs. 
You have my answer. Let my actions speak! 

But this I will avow, that I have scorned, 
And still do scorn, to hide my sense of wrong! 
Who brands me on the forehead, breaks my sword, 
Or lays the bloody scourge upon my back, 
Wrongs me not half so much as he who shuts 
The gates of honor on me, — turning out 
The Roman from his birthright; and, for what? 
To fling your offices to every slave! 
Vipers, that creep where man disdains to climb, 
And, having wound their loathesome track to the top 
Of this huge, mouldering monument of Rome, 
Hang hissing at the nobler man below! 
Come, consecrated Lictors, from your thrones; 
Fling down your scepters; take the rod and axe, 
And make the murder as you make the law! 

Banished from Rome! What's banished, but set free 
From daily contact of the things I loathe? 
"Tried and convicted traitor!*' Who says this? 
Who'll prove it, at his peril, on my head? 

Banished! I thank you for 't. It breaks my chain! 
I held some slaclv allegiance till this hour; 
But now my sword's my own. Smile on, my Lords! 
I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes, 
Strong provocations, bitter, burning wrongs, 
I have within my heart's hot cells shut up, 
To leave you in your lazy dignities. 
But here I stand and scoff you! here, I fling 
Hatred and full defiance in your face! 
Your Consul's merciful. — For this, all thanks. 
He dares not touch a hair of Catiline! 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 285 

"Traitor!" I go; but, I return. This — trial! 
Here I devote your Senate! I've had wrongs 
To stir a fever in the blood of age, 
Or make the infant's sinews strong as steel. 
This day's the birth of sorrow! This hour's work 
Will breed proscriptions! Look to your hearths, my Lords! 
For there, henceforth, shall sit, for household gods, 
Shapes hot from Tartarus! — all shames and crimes! 
Wan Treachery, with his thirsty dagger drawn; 
Suspicion, poisoning his brother's cup; 
Naked Rebellion, with the torch and axe, 
Making his wild sport of your blazing thrones; 
Till Anarchy comes down on you like night, 
And Massacre seals Rome's eternal grave. 

I go; but not to leap the gulf alone. 
I go; but, when I come, 't will be the burst 
Of ocean in the earthquake, — rolling back 
In swift and mountainous ruin. Fare you well! 
You build my funeral-pile; but your best blood 
Shall quench its flame! Back, slaves! I will return. 

Croly. 



Against Employing Indians in War. 



Who is the man that, in addition to disgraces and mis- 
chiefs of our army, has dared to authorize and associate 
to our arms the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the sav- 
age ? — to call into civilized alliance the wild and inhu- 
man savage of the woods ; to delegate to the merciless 
Indian the defence of disputed rights ; and to wage the 
horrors of his barbarous war against our brethren ? My 
Lords, these enormities cry aloud for redress and punish- 



286 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

ment ; but, atrocious as they are, they have found a de- 
fender in this House. " It is perfectly justifiable," says a 
noble Lord, "to use all the means that God and Nature 
put into our hands." I am astonished, shocked, to hear 
such principles confessed, — to hear them avowed in this 
House, or even in this country ; — principles equally un- 
constitutional, inhuman, and unchristian ! My Lords, I 
did not intend to have trespassed again upon your atten- 
tion ; but I cannot repress my indignation — I feel myself 
impelled by every duty to proclaim it. As members of this 
House, as men, as Christians, we are called upon to pro- 
test against the barbarous proposition. " That God and 
Nature put into our hands !" What ideas that noble 
Lord may entertain of God and Nature, I know not ; but 
I know that such abominable principles are equally abhor- 
rent to religion and humanity. What ! attribute the 
sacred sanction of God and Nature to the massacres of 
the Indian scalping-knife, — to the cannibal savage, tor- 
turing, murdering, devouring, drinking the blood of his 
mangled victims ! Such notions shock every precept of 
religion, every sentiment of honor, every feeling of 
humanity ! 

These abominable principles, and this more abominable 
avowal of them, demand most decisive indignation ! I 
call upon that Right Reverend, Bench, those holy min- 
isters of the Gospel, and pious pastors of our Church ; I 
conjure them to join in the holy work, and to vindicate 
the religion of their God ! I appeal to the wisdom and 
the law of this learne'd Bench, to defend and support the 
justice of their country ! I call upon the Bishops to in- 
terpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn ; upon the 
judges, to interpose the purity of their ermine, to save 
us from this pollution ! I call upon the honor of your 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 287 

Lordships to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and 
to maintain your own ! I call upon the spirit and hu- 
manity of my country, to vindicate the national character! 
I invoke the genius of the Constitution ! 

Lord Chatham. 



The Frog and the Frenchman. 



When the grass comes slowly creeping 
O'er the meadows, in good keeping 

With the spring, 
Then appears the early peeper, 
Who, to lull the wanton sleeper, 

'Gins to sing. 
Formerly, he used to sail 
By the motion of his tail, 

When pollywog ; 
But he lost that institution, 
In the course of evolution 

To the frog. 
Such a cunning little fellow, 
With his breast a greenish-yellow, 

He will go 
Tuning up that voice unfailing, 
As young roosters, when first tailing, 

Try to crow. 
On a lily-pad he'll teeter, 
And maintain he sings much sweeter 

Than a bird ; 
A canary — the last feather, 
Washed away by rainy weather, 

Takes his word ; 

So absurd. 



VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

When he grows a little sweeter, 
Epicurean frog-eater 

Always begs 
That his deft and agile henchman 
Will go catch this tender Frenchman, 

For his legs. 

So he hies him to the pond, 
Or the eddy just beyond, 

In the creek, — 
Where he finds the full-grown frog, 
Basking on a cosy log ; 

Hear him speak : 
" Greek meets Greek ! 

Chug-a-reek ! 

" I'm suspicious of your nation, 
Though I like your conversation : 

Parlez-vons ; 
But if you are not polite, sir, 
I'll jump quickly out of sight, sir, 

Entre notis ! 

Chug-a-roo ! 
" Do you think, O, simple sinner, 
You will catch a Sunday dinner 

With a bug ? 
Regardez ! begin to banter 
With ' red rag ', I'm gone instanter ; 

Chug-a-rug ! 

Chug-a-rug I 
" Shrug your shoulders well, monsieur, 
There's no use to make detour, 

I know your game. 
I'm content to parlez-votis, 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 2 

If my broken French will do, 
But I'll keep an eye on you, 

All the same, 

Ckug-a-rame ! 

' Like the Premiere Danseuse, 
A fat frog is of no use, 

Save his limb : 
So like 'sprinter ' on his pegs, 
I had better stretch my legs, 

Nice and trim, 

For a swim. 

Chiig-a-rim \ 

In the brink 

Don't you think ? 

Chup-a-rink ! 

Chug-a-rink ! 

Chug-a-rink ! 

11 Were I cooked and on a plate, 
You would have a tete-a-tete, 

Avcc amour 
With fair lady vis-a-vis ; 
Two is pleasant company, 
Always spoiled by number three. 

So, Bonjour ! " 

" Ze same to you ! " 
" Taisez vans ! " 
" Par bleu ! " 
" Chug-a-roo 
Hu-hu hoo ! " 

F? ed Emerson Brooks. 



290 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



Col. Baker as an Orator. 



The style of Col. Baker was lofty and grand, but never 
stereotyped. As his passions ran the whole gamut of 
human feeling, and his learning touched the entire field 
of thought, so his style was that of no man — but the 
excellences of all men. He had the magical influence 
of Caesar. He had the fascination of Pericles. He was 
vehement in gesture, like Brougham and Mirabeau. His 
impetuous eloquence swept away all opposition. Before 
him men stood dumb. Those who came to cavil, to 
question, to interrupt, remained to listen in silence, and 
went away convinced. His speeches were poems ; his 
words were music ; his thoughts were thunderbolts. His 
was not poverty of ideas flaunting gay trappings of words. 
His very voice with thoughts seemed pregnant. He 
spoke to the common conscience. He kept his feet on 
fact, but he painted his pictures with Greek fire that 
burned them upon the memory. There were others that 
made arguments hard to answer, but his arguments no- 
body ever wanted to answer. 

He was lofty and majestic like Burke and Chatham. 
He had the inspiration of Patrick Henry, the polish of 
Edward Everett, and in his withering denunciations, was 
the equal of his Eastern rival, Wendell Phillips. In his 
arsenal he carried every weapon of offense and defense. 
Wit and humor, fancy and imagination, sarcasm and 
irony, logic and rhetoric, were playthings in his hands, 
and upon proper occasions, he could use each with the 
skill of a master. When he touched upon the themes of 
Liberty, and Union, his eyes blazed, his whole frame 






READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 29 1 

quivered, he looked like a god. His sentences lost the 
flow of Chatham's rounded period. They became short 
and epigrammatic. Every word was flame, every sentence 
seemed forced from a molten lake within. 

Clara S. Foltz. 



Freedom. 



I Delivered in 1861.] 

Long years ago I took my stand for Freedom, and 
where the feet of my youth were planted, there my man- 
hood and my age shall march. And for one, I am not 
ashamed of Freedom. I know her power. I rejoice in 
her majesty. I walk beneath her banner. I glory in 
her strength. 

I have seen her again and again struck down on a 
hundred chosen fields of battle. I have seen her friends 
fly from her. I have seen her foes gather around her. I 
have seen them bind her to the stake. I have seen them 
give her ashes to the winds, regathering them that they 
might scatter them yet more widely. But when they turn- 
ed to exult, I have seen her again meet them face to face, 
clad in complete steel and brandishing in her strong 
right hand a flaming sword red with insufferable light. I 
take courage. The people gather around her. The gen- 
ius of America will yet lead her sons to Freedom ! 

Are you ashau.ed to march in the procession of Free- 
dom? Shall reproach, shall malignant slander, shall base 
misrepresentation make you hesitate ? For me at least, 
no. A thousand times, no ! I love Freedom better than 
slavery. I will speak her words. I will listen to her mu- 
sic. I will acknowledge her impulses. I will stand be- 
neath her flag. I will fight in her ranks. And when I 



292 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

do so, I shall find myself surrounded by the great, the 
wise, the good, the brave, the noble of every land. 

If I could stand for a moment upon one of our high 
mountain tops, far above all the kingdoms of the world, 
and see coming up, one after another, the bravest and 
the wisest of the Ancient warriors, and statesmen, and kings, 
and monarchs, and priests, and be permitted to ask their 
opinion on this theme, with a common voice, and in 
thunder tones, reverberating through all lands and echo- 
ing down the ages, they would cry, " Liberty ! Freedom ' 
The Universal Brotherhood of man ! " I join that shout ! 
I swell that anthem ! I echo that cry forever and forever ! 

E. D. Baker. 



The Golden Gate. 



Down by the side of the Golden Gate 

The city stands ; 
Grimly, and solemn, and silent, wait 

The walls of land, 
Guarding its door as a treasure fond ; 
And none may pass to the sea beyond, 
But they who trust to the king of fate, 

And pass through the Golden Gate. 
The ships go out through its narrow door, 
White-sailed, and laden with precious store — 
White-sailed, and laden with precious freight, 
The ships come back through the Golden Gate. 
The sun comes up o'er the Eastern crest, 
The sun goes down in the golden West, 
And the East is West, and the West is East, 
And the sun, from his toil of day released, 

Shines back through the Golden Gate. 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 293 

Down by the side of the Golden Gate — 
The door of life, — 

Are resting our cities, sea-embowered, 

White-walled, and templed, and marbled-towered — 
The end of strife. 

The ships have sailed from the silent walls, 

And over their sailing the darkness falls. 

O, the sea is so dark, and so deep, and wide ! 

Will the ships come back from the further side ? 
' Nay ; but is there no further side," 

A voice is whispering across the tide, — 
' Time, itself, is a circle vast, 

Building the future out of the past ; 

For the new is old, and the old is new, 

And the true is false, and the false is true, 

And the West is East, and the East is West, 

And the sun that rose o'er the Eastern crest, 

Gone down in the West of his circling track, 

Forever and ever is shining back 

Through the Golden Gate of life." 

O soul ! thy city is standing down 

By its Golden Gate ; 
Over it hangs the menacing frown 

Of the king of fate. 
The sea of knowledge so neam'ts door, 
Is rolling away to the further shore — 

The orient side, — 
And the ocean is dark, and deep, and wide ! 
But thy harbor, O, Soul ! is filled with sails, 
Freighted with messages, wonder tales, 
From the lands that swing in the sapphire sky, 
Where the gardens of God in the ether lie. 
If only the blinded eye could see, 



294 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

If only thy deaf-mute heart could hear, 
The ocean of knowledge is open to thee, 
And its Golden Gate is near ! 
For the dead are the living — the living the dead, 
And out of the darkness the light is shed ; 
And the East is West, and the West is East, 
And the sun from his toil of day released, 
Shines back through the Golden Gate. 

Madge Morris. 



Feminine Pity. 



I know nothing in the world tenderer than the pity that 
a kind-hearted young girl has for a young man who feels 
lonely. It is true that these dear creatures are all com- 
passion for every form of human woe, and anxious to al- 
leviate all human misfortunes. They will go to Sunday- 
schools through storms their brothers are afraid of, to 
teach the most unpleasant and untractable classes of little 
children the age of Methuselah or the dimensions of Og 
the king of Bashan's bedstead. They will stand behind 
a table at a fair all day until they are ready to drop, dress- 
ed in their prettiest cloaks and their sweetest smiles, and 
lay hands upon you, to make you buy what you do not 
want, at prices which you cannot afford ; all this as cheer- 
fully as if it were not martyrdom to them as well as to 
you. Such is their love for all good objects, such their 
eagerness to sympathize with all their suffering fellow- 
creatures ! But there is nothing they pity as they pity a 
lonely young man. 

[The Poet at the Breakfast Table.'] 

Holmes. 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 295 

* 

Bernardo Del Carpio. 



The warrior bowed his crested head, and tamed his heart of fire } 
And sued the haughty king to free his long-imprisoned sire ; 
" I bring thee here my fortress keys, I bring my captive train, 
I pledge thee faith, my liege, my lord !— O! break my father's 
chain ! " 

" Rise, rise ! even now thy father comes, a ransomed man, 
this day ! 
Mount thy good horse ; and thou and I will meet him on his way." 
Then lightly rose that loyal son, and bounded on his steed, 
And urged, as if with lance in rest, the charger's foamy speed. 

And lo ! from afar, as on they pressed, there came a glittering 
band, 
With one that 'midst them stately rode, as a leader in the land ; 
" Now haste, Bernardo, haste ! for there, in very truth, is he, 
The father whom thy faithful heart hath yearned so long to see." 

His dark eye flashed, his proud breast heaved, his cheek's hue 
came and went ; 
He reached that gray-haired chieftain's side, and there, dismount- 
ing, bent ; 
A lowly knee to earth he bent, his father's hand he took — 
What was there in its touch that all his fiery spirit shook ? 

That hand was cold — a frozen thing — it dropped from his like 

lead! 
He looked up to the face above — the face was of the dead ! 
A plume waved o'er the noble brow — the brow was fixed and 

white ; 
He met, at last, his father's eyes — but in them was no sight ! 

Up from the ground he sprang and gazed ; but who could 
paint that gaze ? 



296 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

They hushed their very hearts, that saw its horror and amaze — 
They might have chained him, as before that stony form he stood ; 
For the power was .stricken from his arm, and from his lip the 
blood. 

" Father ! " at length he murmured low, and wept like child- 
hood then : 
Talk not of grief till thou hast seen the tears of warlike men ! 
He thought on all his glorious hopes, and all his young renown — 
He flung his falchion from his side, and in the dust sat down. 

Then covering with his steel-gloved hands his darkly mournful 
brow, 
" No more, there is no more," he said, " to lift the sword for now ! 
My king is false — my hope betrayed ! My father — O ! the worth, 
The glory, and the loveliness, are passed away from earth ! 

" I thought to stand where banners waved, my sire, beside 

thee, yet ! 
I would that there our kindred blood on Spain's free soil had met ! 
Thou wouldst have known my spirit, then — for thee my fields 

were won ; 
And thou hast perished in thy chains, as though thou hadst no son.' 

Then, starting from the ground once more, he seized the 
monarch's rein, 
Amid the pale and wildered looks of all the courtier train ; 
And, with a fierce, o'ermastering grasp, the rearing war-horse led, 
And sternly set them face to face — the king before the dead : 

" Came I not forth, upon thy pledge, my father's hand to 

kiss? 
— Be still, and gaze thou on, false king ! and tell me what is this ? 
The voice, the glance, the heart I sought — give answer, where are 

they? 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 297 

If thou wouldst clear thy perjured soul, send life through this cold 

clay ! 
" Into these glassy eyes put light —be still ! keep down thine ire! 
Bid these white lips a blessing speak — this earth is not my sire — 
Give me back him for whom I strove, for whom my blood was 

shed ! 
Thou canst not ? — and a king ! — his dust be mountains on thy 

head ! " 

He loosed the steed — his slack hand fell — upon the silent face 
He cast one long, deep, troubled look, then turned from that sad 

place. 
His hope was crushed, his after fate untold in martial strain — 
His banner led the spears no more, amid the hills of Spain. 

Mrs. Hemans. 



The Funny Story. 



It was such a funny story ! how I wish you could have heard it, 
For it set us all a laughing from the little to the big ; 
I'd really like to tell it, but I don't know how to word it, 
Though it travels to the music of a very lively jig. 

If Sally just began it, then Amelia Jane would giggle, 
And Mehetable and Susan try their very broadest grin ; 
And the infant Zachariah on his mother's lap would wriggle, 
And add a lusty chorus to the very merry din. 

It was such a funny story, with its its cheery snap and crackle, 
And Sally always told it with such dramatic art, 
That the chickens in the door-yard would begin to " cackle-cackle, 
As if in such a frolic they were anxious to take part. 

It was all about a — ha ! ha ! — and a — ho ! ho ! ho ! — well really, 
It is — he ! he ! he ! — I never could begin to tell you half 



290 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Of the nonsense there was in it, for I just remember clearly 
It began with ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! and it ended with a laugh. 
But Sally — she could tell it, looking at us so demurely, 
With a woe-begone expression that no actress would despise ; 
And if you'd never heard it, why you would imagine surely, 
That you'd need your pocket-handkerchief to" wipe your weeping 
eyes." 

When age my hair has silvered, and my step has grown unsteady 
And the nearest to my vision are the scenes of long ago, 
I shall see the pretty picture, and the tears will come as ready 
As the laugh did, when I used to ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! and — ho ! ho ! ho! 
Josephine Pollard in Scribner of 1878. 



The Isle of Long Ago. 



O, a wonderful stream is the river Time, 
As it runs through the realm of tears, 
With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme, 
And a boundless sweep and a surge sublime, 
As it blends with the Ocean of Years. 

How the winters are drifting, like flakes of snow, 

■ And the summers, like buds between; 
And the year in the sheaf — so they come and they 
On the river's breast, with its ebb and flow, 
As it glides in the shadow and sheen. 

There's a magical isle up the river Time, 
Where the softest of airs are playing; 
There's a cloudless sky and a tropical clime, 
And a song as sweet as a vesper chime, 
And the Junes with, the roses are staying, 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 299 

And the name of that Isle is the Long Ago, 

And we bury our treasures there; 
There are brows of beauty and bosoms of snow — 
There are heaps of dust — oh! we loved them so! — 

There are trinkets and tresses of hair. 

There are fragments of song that nobody sings, 
And a part of an infant's prayer; 
There's a lute unswept, and a harp without strings, 
There are broken vows and pieces of rings, 
And the garments our dead used to wear. 

There are hands that are waved, when the fairy shore 

By the mirage is lifted in air; 
And we sometimes hear, through the turbulent roar, 
Sweet voices we heard in days gone bafore, 
When the wind down the river is fair. 

O, remembered for aye be the blessed Isle, 

All the day of our life till night — 
When the evening comes with its beautiful smile, 
And our eyes are closing to slumber awhile, 
May that "Greenwood" of Soul be in sight! 

B. F. Taylor. 



On the American Revolution. 



They tell us, sir, that we are weak, unable to cope 
with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be 
stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? 
Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a 
British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall 
we gather strength by irresolution and inaction ? Shall 
we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying 
supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom 



300 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and 
foot? 

Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those 
means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. 
Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of 
liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, 
are invincible by any force which our enemy can send 
against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles 
alone. There is a just God who presides over the 
destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to 
fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the 
strong alone — it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. 
Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base 
enough to desire it fc it is now too late to retire from the 
contest. There is no retreat but in submission and 
slavery. Our chains are forged. Their clanking may 
be heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is inevitable, 
and let it come ! I repeat it, sir, let it come ! 

It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen 
may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace. The war 
is actually begun ! The next gale that sweeps from the 
North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding 
arms ! Our brethren are already in the field ! Why 
stand we here idle ? What is it that gentlemen wish ? 
What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so 
sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and 
slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God ! I know not what 
course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, 
or give me death ! Patrick Henry. 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 3c I 



Tell on His Native Hills. 



Oh, with what pride I used 
To walk these hills, and look up to my God, 
And bless him that the land was free. 'T was free — 
From end to end, from cliff to lake 't was free ! 
Free as our torrents are that leap our rocks, 
And plow our valleys, without asking leave ! 
Or as our peaks, that wear their caps of snow 
In very presence of the regal sun ! 

How happy was it then ! I loved 
Its very storms. Yes, I have sat 
In my boat at night, when, midway o'er the lake, 
The stars went out, and down the mountain gorge 
The wind came roaring . I have sat and eyed 
The thunder breaking from his cloud, and smiled 
To see him shake his lightnings o'er my head, 
And think I had no master save his own ! 

On yonder jutting cliff — o'ertaken there 
By the mountain blast, I've laid me flat along, 
And while gust followed gust more furiously, 
As if to sweep me o'er the horrid brink, 
And I have thought of other lands, whose storms 
Are summer-flaws to those of mine, and just 
Have wished me there — the thought that mine was free 
Has checked that wish, and I have raised my head, 
And cried in thraldom to that furious wind, 
Blow on ! — this is the land of liberty ! 

Knvwles, 



302 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 



The Two Professions. 



[Abridged from original MS. for Voice Culture and Elocution.] 

" Margaret ! Margaret ! ! Margaret ! ! ! Oh, dear ! I 
hope the Lord will give me patience to bear with that 
girl, and bring her up in the way she should go. She is 
given over to the Evil One, I fear ! " Deacon Gray closed 
his Bible with a bang, and arose to his feet to go in search 
of his wayward daughter. Just then the sound of a 
rich, full, musical voice came floating down from the 
attic chamber of the farmhouse, and the deacon paused 
in the centre of the old-fashioned sitting room, with both 
hands uplifted in holy horror, while he listened to the 
sound of — 

[Here introduce song.] 

" May the Lord keep me from punishing that girl ac- 
cording to her wickedness," groaned the deacon, as he 
called out again, 

" Margaret ! Margaret Gray ! You unregenerate hussy, 
come here this minute." 

" Yes, father." 

" What was that, that you was a screeching just now?" 
he asked, his voice trembling with passion. 

"A song from ," she answered, "is it 

not lovely ? " 

"Shut up, child of iniquity," he roared. 

" Yes, father." 

" I believe you are given over to hardness of heart, 
and depravity of mind. I have prayed for you, labored 
with you, and even chastised you, Margaret, but you are 
growing worse every day. I was away from home yes- 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 303 

terday, attending a meeting of our associated laborers for 
foreign missions. I left old Parker to finish cradling 
that wheat, — did he work all day ? " 

"Why, father, the work was done, and you yourself 
said that it would take a young man a day and a half to 
do it." 

"That's not the question. I want to know if he worked 
all day." 

"No; but /did. I knew the poor old colored man 
had a sick wife at home, who has no care, except such as 
he can bestow upon her. So I worked with all my 
strength, that he might enjoy a few hours free from toil, 
and you be none the poorer, father." 

"That's enough J I shall pay him for three quarters of 
a day ! " 

"Oh, father !" 

" Shut up ! You would encourage idleness in niggers, 
would you ? May the Lord give me patience with such a 
sinful, disobedient child." 

Margaret sang no more that day, and at evening she 
wended her way to the miserable hut which the colored 
man called his home. As her eyes became accustomed to 
the darkness, she beheld the form of the old man crouched 
upon the floor beside the wretched couch, whereon lay the 
emaciated form of his dying wife. 

" O Miss Marget ! Is dat you ?" he said in trembling 
tones. "She's a'most gone, a'most gone, honey. De 
golden gates is unlocked, and it seems as if dese yer ole 
blind eyes kin see de angels peepin' froo." 

" Sing ! sing ! sing !" It was the feeble whisper of 
the dying one. 

" Yes, yes, ole woman, I will. I'll sing one o' dem 
glory tunes yer likes so well." Choking back his grief 



304 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

and nerving himself by a mighty effort for the task, the 
stricken husband sang. 

[Introduce negro church melody. J 

" Oh, its dark and cold, so cold. I wish de good Lord 
would take me by the hand," murmured the dying lips. 
Margaret clasped the black, withered hand in hers, and 
then her full, rich voice, tremulous with feeling, flooded 
the wretched hovel like a deluge of sunshine. 

Lead, Kindly Light. 

Lead, Kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom, 

Lead Thou me on! 
The night is dark, and I am far from home, 

Lead Thou me on! 
Keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see 
The distant scene; one step enough for me! 

So long Thy power hath led me, sure it still 

Will lead me on, 
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till 

The night is gone, 
And with the morn those angel faces smile, 
Which I have loved long since and lost awhile. 

As the notes died away, a dead silence fell upon the 
scene. It was the solemn hush of the presence of death, 
broken only by the subdued sobs of the weeping husband. 

"Oh, it's dark and cold!" murmured the sufferer. 
"But hark ! Listen, honey ! I hear music... Don't yer 
hear it ? Oh 'tis de music of de angels, and dis yer room 
is growing light. I'se almost over now ; de water ob de 
ribber isn't cold any mo'. Oh chile ! it's easy "nough ter 
die dis way. Cos yer brought dem angels in hyar wid 
yer when yer come. Dere ! I see dem buful angels. 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 305 

Good-by ole man — don't stay long behind cos I knows 
ye'll suffer hyar. Good-by, Miss. May de Lord 'ward 
you for your goodness — good by good ." 

The following morning, Margaret was astir, early as 
usual. Before long her father's voice was heard, "Mar- 
garet ! Margaret !" 

"Yes, father !" 

" Margaret, there is one thing I want to talk to you 
about, and I mean every word I say. It is time that you 
was doing something for yourself, the harvesting is almost 
over and your mother can do all the work that is to be 
done about the house. I think you had better go into 
some factory or take a school for the winter." 

" I have already decided what to do father — I shall go 
upon the stage." 

" What ! go upon the stage ; become one of those 
abandoned wretches who are a disgrace to humanity ! who 
never go to church, read a Bible, or utter a prayer ! Never ! 
No child of mine shall ever be reckoned among that vile 
hoard ! Take back your words, or leave my house." 

" Father, I cannot." 

" Then go ! Never enter these doors again ! Never call 
me father ! Never dare look upon my face even in its 
coffin." 

There were a few whispered words of endearment be- 
tween Margaret and her mother, and then the daughter 
left the room, and soon quitted the place which she called 
home, but which her tyrant father had rendered hateful to 
her. * - 



Five years passed, and Deacon Gray lay upon his death- 
bed. The ministers and all the prominent members x>f 



306 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

the church had visited him, trying to comfort and console 
him. Still, the old man was not happy. 

It was night. All was quiet in and about the old farm- 
house, save the whistling of the November wind, and the 
monotonous, measured, waving protest of the old kitchen 
clock, which said plainly in- the dying man's ear : 

" Take back — take back — your words — take back — 
take back— your words — call back — your child — Marg'ret 
— Marg'ret." 

" Wife ! Wife ! " he called out, unable to endure the tor- 
ture which his remorseful thoughts inflicted upon him. 
The patient watcher arose from her seat, and bent over 
him. Wife, I've been a faithful churchman." 

"Yes, husband, you have, indeed." 

"But somehow that thought doesn't satisfy me now. I've 
been harsh and cruel to you, wife." 

"Oh, no, no, don't think about that, husband. No one 
is perfect. I dare say I tried your patience." 

" And there was Margaret — poor child, I drove her 
from her home, when I should have been her best friend, 
next to you, wife. Don't say a word. There's no excuse 
for me. She was always a better Christian than I was, 
and I knew it too, but I wanted to have my own way — I 
wanted to think for her — I wanted her to think as I did. 
I forgot that she could not be ruled in that way. Hark ! 
Listen ! Don't you hear? Call back — Marg'ret — Call 
back — Marg'ret ! " 

" It is- only the ticking of the clock, husband." 

"Yes, it is something more than that; it is conscience 
— conscience ! Oh, if I could hear her sing once more ! 
I wouldn't care what she sang — and I told her never to 
look upon my face again, living or dead ! O, Margaret — 
Margaret — my child — my child — forgive — forgive — for- 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 307 

give! It's growing dark, wife. Is that your hand? Why, 
how soft and fair it seems — I could almost fancy it was 
her hand. God help me — and forgive me. Sing, 
Margaret — sing, my child — I have never heard any music 
since I drove you from your home." 

Softly, sweetly, and tremulously, there arose upon the 
midnight stillness the sound of a sweet voice singing : 

[Sing, "Jesus, Lover of my Soul. "J 

A peaceful smile stole over the features* of the dying 
man, and, as the sound of the last note died away, he 
raised his arms feebly. 

"Margaret, my child," he whispered. 

"Father, dear father." 

"Forgive me, Margaret." 

"As I hope for forgiveness when I am leaving this 
earthly body, dear father." 

"Kiss me, my child." 

The loving arms of the faithful daughter were twined 
about the neck of the parent whom she had found for the 
first time in her life. Her lips were pressed to his, and 
when she disengaged herself from his embrace, his hands 
fell heavily by his side, a feeble sigh fluttered from his 
breast, and Deacon Gray — was dead ! 



The Lost Sheep. 



De massa ob de sheepfol', 
Dat guard de sheepfol' bin, 

Look out in de gloomerin' meadows 
Whar de long night rain begin — 

So he call to de hirelin' shepa'd, 

" Is my sheep, is dey all come in ? " 
" Oh," den says the hirelin' shepa'd, 



308 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

" Dey's some dey's black an' thin, 
An' some dey's po' ol' wedda's, 
But de res' dey's all brung in." 

Den de massa ob de sheepfoP, 

Dat guard de sheepfol' bin, 
Goes down in de gloomerin' meadows, 

Whar de long night rain begin — 
So he le' down de bars of de sheepfol', 

Callin'sof, "Come in, come in." 

Den up tro' de gloomerin' meadows, 

Tro' de col' night rain an' win'^ 
An' up tro' de gloomerin' rain-pat, 

War de sleet fa' pie'cin' thin, 
De po' los' sheep ob de sheepfol,' 

Dey all comes gadderin' in ; 
De po' los' sheep ob de sheepfol', 

Dey all comes gadderin' in. 

Sallv Pratt Maclean. 



The Murderer's Secret. 



Providence hath so ordained, and doth so govern things, 
that those who^break the great law of heaven by shedding 
man's blood, seldom succeed in avoiding discovery : A 
thousand eyes turn at once to explore every man, every- 
thing, every circumstance, connected with the time and 
place ; a thousand ears catch every whisper ; a thousand 
excited minds intensely dwell on the scene ; shedding all 
their light, and ready to kindle the slightest circumstance 
into a blaze of discovery. Meantime, the guilty soul 
cannot keep its own secret. 

It is false to itself ; or rather it feels an irresistible im- 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 309 

pulse of conscience to be true to itself. The secret which 
the murderer possesses, soon comes to possess him. And 
like the evil spirits of which we read, it overcomes him, 
and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it beating 
at his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding disclos- 
ure. He thinks the whole world sees it in his face, reads 
it in his eyes, and almost hears its workings in the very 
silence of his thoughts. It has become his master. It 
betrays his discretion, it. breaks down his courage, it con- 
quers his prudence. When suspicions from without be- 
gin to embarrass him, and the net of circumstances to en- 
tangle him, the fatal secret struggles with still greater vio- 
lence to burst forth. It must be confessed, it will be 
confessed ; there is no refuge from confession but suicide ; 
and suicide is confession. 

Webster. 



A Psalm of Life. 



Tell me not in mournful numbers, 
Life is but an empty dream ! 

For the soul is dead that slumbers, 
And things are not what they seem. 

Life is real ! Life is earnest ! 
And the grave is not its goal : 
1 Dust thou art, to dust returnest," 
Was not spoken of the soul. 

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 
Is our destined end and way. 

But to act that each to-morrow 
Find us farther than to-day. 



3IO VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Art is long, and time is fleeting, 

And our hearts, though stout and brave, 

Still, like muffled drums, are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave. 

In the world's broad field of battle, 

In the bivouac of life, 
Be not like dumb, driven cattle ! 
Be a hero in the strife ! 

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant ! 
Let the dead Past bury its dead ! 
Act ! — act in the living Present ! 

Heart within, and God o'erhead. 

Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime, 

And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time ; 

Footprints, that perhaps another, 
Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
Seeing, shall take heart again. 

Let us, then, be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 

Learn to labor and to wait. 

Longfelloxv . 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 



Sprinkling the Streets. 



Mr. Trevelyan, who lives on Court street, has had 
trouble already with his garden hose. Since the intro- 
duction of the Holly water system, it has been the delight 
of Mr. Trevelyan to turn himself into a pipeman at sun- 
set, and, with his garden hose, sprinkle the thirsty street 
with the clear, cool waters of the mighty Mississippi. 

Miss Norah Donavan, a young lady who is connected 
with the culinary department of Mr. Trevelyan 's house, 
and is also superintendent of the dormitories and general 
overseer of carpets, had often watched, as her duties 
would permit, this process of cooling down the streets at 
eventide, and she had been heard to wish that this duty 
might be entrusted to her. She finally framed her wish 
in a direct petition, and last evening she entered upon 
the active duties of her new office. 

When Miss Donavan took the nozzle from the hands 
of her master, it was pointed almost directly at the middle 
of the street, and Miss Donavan conscientiously retained 
it in this position, while her whole frame was convulsed 
with delight. 

Presently there came dashing down the street, in a 
light, open phaeton, two happy young people. In vain 
the male young person shouted : 

"Hi, there, I say! turn her off!" and in vain the 
female young person shrieked, and essayed to hide behind 
a parasol no larger than a water lily. 

Miss Donavan only stared at them, and wondered if 
peradventure they might be crazy, and when they 
passed through the torrent, they came out on the other 
side very sad, very silent and very damp, not to say 
limp. 



312 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Then the gentleman who lives next door came out and 
called to her as he approached, intending to instruct her 
how to shut off the deluging stream, or turn it aside when 
any one approached. But Miss Donavan, hearing him 
call her name, said, "Sorr?" and turned about and 
faced him with the nozzle doing its level best, wide open 
and a fire pressure on. He turned with the first shot 
and fled for his own door, the cooling stream following 
him every inch of the way, like an angel of mercy in 
disguise. But by the time he reached the door, he 
was so thoroughly drenched that his suspenders mil- 
dewed. 

Then a North Hill street car came rattling down — an 
open, summer car, just crowded with people coming in 
from a picnic at Sunnyside — and when they heard the 
driver shout, and then dodge and then swear, they saw their 
fate and Miss Donavan, and just howled, and wailed, and 
screamed, and tried to get behind each other, and crept 
under the seats, and some of them even jumped off the 
car; and all of them, by their frantic gestures, wild 
shrieks, and singular behavior, impressed Miss Donavan 
with the idea that they were dreadfully drunk. 

The street car passed on, and when it was beyond the 
line of Mr. Trevelyan's garden stream, the dryest man in 
that car could have put out a conflagration by simply 
leaning back against the house that was burning, and 
before the car reached the next corner there were four 
well-defined suits for damages fixed up against Mr. 
Trevelyan. 

By this time Miss Donavan was pretty thoroughly con- 
vinced that the manipulation of a garden hose required 
that judgment and liberal education and shrewd insight 
into men and motives, that belong only to the aristocratic 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 313 

classes, and she determined to resign her position forth- 
with. She went into the hall, carrying the nozzle with 
her, and spre'admg desolation and dismay wherever she 
went. " Whist ! " she shouted, as the torrent drenched 
the hat-rack ; " Murther ! " she howled, when it knocked 
the globe off the hall lamp. "Misther Trevelyan !" she 
shrieked, "where on the wide world is the sthopper? " 
and then she bent over the irrepressible nozzle and 
essayed to stop it with her finger. 

The howl of dismay that followed this attempt brought 
the startled family up into the hall, and in less than 
three minutes every seat in the house was taken, standing 
room all gone, and the play declared a success. 



Ode on the Passions. 



When Music, heavenly maid, was young, 
While yet in early Greece she sung, 
The passions oft, to hear her shell, 
Thronged around her magic cell, 
Exulting, trembling, raging, fainting — 
Possessed beyond the Muse's painting. 
By turns Jthey felt the glowing mind 
Disturbed, delighted, raised, refined : 
Till once, 'tis said, when all were fired, 
Filled with fury, rapt, inspired, 
From the supporting myrtles round 
They snatched her instruments of sound ; 
And, as they oft had heard apart 
Sweet lessons of her forceful art, 
Each — for madness ruled the hour- 
Would prove his own expressive power. 



314 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

First, Fear, his hand, its skill to try, 
Amid the chords bewildered laid — 

And back recoiled, he knew not why, • 
Even at the sound himself had made. 

Next, Anger rushed : his eyes on fire, 
In lightnings owned his secret stings — 

With one rude clash he struck the lyre, 
And swept with hurried hands the strings. 

"With woful measures, wan Despair — 
Low, sullen sounds his grief beguiled ; 

A solemn, strange, and mingled air : 

'Twas sad, by fits — by starts, 'twas wild. 

But thou, O Hope ! with eyes so fair, 
What was thy delighted measure ? 
Still it whispered promised pleasure, 
And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail. 
Still would her touch the strain prolong ; 
And from the rocks, the woods, the vale, 

She called on Echo still through all her song : 
And, where her sweetest theme she chose, 
A soft, responsive voice was heard at every close ; 
And Hope, enchanted, smiled, and waved her golden hair. 

And longer had she sung — but, with a frown, 

Revenge impatient rose : 
He threw his blood-stained sword in thunder down, 

And with a withering look, 

The war-denouncing trumpet took, 
And blew a blast, so loud and dread, 
Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woe : 

And ever and anon, he beat 

The doubling drum with furious heat ; 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 315 

And though, sometimes, each dreary pause between, 
Dejected Pity at his side, 
Her soul-subduing voice applied, 
Yet still he kept his wild, unaltered mien ; 
While each strained ball of sight seemed bursting from his head. 

Thy numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fixed ; 

Sad proof of thy distressful state ! 
Of differing themes the veering song was mixed : 

And now, it courted Love; now, raving, called on Hate. 

With eyes upraised, as one inspired, 
Pale Melancholy sat retired ; 
And from her wild, sequestered seat, 
In notes by distance made more sweet, 
Poured through the mellow horn her pensive soul ; 
And, dashing soft from rocks around, 
Bubbling runnels joined the sound. 
Through glades and glooms the mingled measure stole, 
Or o'er some haunted stream, with fond delay, 

Round a holy calm diffusing, 

Love of peace and lonely musing, 
In hollow murmurs died away. 

Rut, oh ! how altered was its sprightlier tone, 
When Cheerfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue, 
Her bow across her shoulder flung, 
Her buskins gemmed with morning dew, 

Blew an inspiring air, that dale and thicket rung, 
The hunter's call, to Faun and Dryad known ! 

The oak-crowned sisters, and their chaste-eyed queen, 
Satyrs and sylvan boys were seen, 
Peeping from forth their alleys green : 

Brown Exercise rejoiced to hear, 
And Sport leaped up, and seized his beechen spear. 



316 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Last, came Joy's ecstatic trial ; 
He, with viny crown advancing, 

First to the lively pipe his hand addressed : 
But soon he saw the brisk awakening viol, 

Whose sweet entrancing voice he loved the best. 
They would have thought, who heard the strain, 
They saw, in Tempe's vale, her native maids, 
Amid the festal-sounding shades, 
To some unwearied minstrel dancing ; 
While as his flying fingers kissed the strings, 

Love framed with Mirth a gay fantastic round : 
Loose were her tresses seen, her zone unbound, 
And he amid his frolic play, 
As if he would the charming air repay, 
Shook thousand odors from his dewy wing. 

Collins. 



Liberty and Union. 



While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratify- 
ing prospects spread out before us, for us and our chil- 
dren. Beyond that, I seek not to penetrate the veil. 
God grant, that in my day, at least, that curtain may not 
rise ! God grant that on my vision never may be opened 
what lies behind ! When my eyes shall be turned to be- 
hold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see 
him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of 
a once glorious Union ; on states dissevered, discordant, 
belligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, 
it may be, in fraternal blood ! 

Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold 
the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and hon- 
ored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 317 

arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not 
a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, 
bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as 
" What is all this worth ? " nor those other words of delus- 
ion and folly, "Liberty first and Union afterwards; " but 
everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, 
blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea 
and over the land, and in every wind under the whole 
heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true Ameri- 
can heart — Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and 
inseparable ! Webster. 



Wolsey's Fall. 

Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness ! 
This is the state of man ; to-day he puts forth 
The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, 
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him ; 
The third day comes a frost — a killing frost ; 
And when he thinks, good easy man ! full surely 
His greatness is a ripening — nips the root, 
And then he falls, as I do. 

I have ventured, 
Like little wanton boys, that swim on bladders, 
These many summers in a sea of glory, 
But far beyond my depth : my high-blown pride 
At length broke under me, and now has left me, 
Weary and old with service, to the mercy 
Of a rude stream that must forever hide me. 

Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye ! 
I feel my heart new opened ; oh ! how wretched 
Is that poor man that hangs on prince's favors ! 
There is, betwixt that smile he would aspire to, 



318 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

That sweet aspect of princes and their ruin, 
More pangs and fears than wars or women have ; 
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, 
Never to hope again. 



Spartacus to the Gladiators. 



Ye call me chief ; and ye do well to call him chief 
who, for twelve long years, has met upon the arena every 
shape of man or beast the broad empire of Rome could 
furnish, and who never yet lowered his arm. If there be 
one among you who can say that ever, in public fight or 
private brawl, my actions did belie my tongue, let him 
stand forth, and say it. If there be three in all your 
company dare face me on the bloody sands, let them 
come on. And yet I was not always thus— a hired 
butcher, a savage chief of still more savage men ! 

My ancestors came from old Sparta, and settled among 
the vine-clad rocks and citron groves of Cyrasella. My 
early life ran quiet as the brooks by which I sported ; 
and when, at noon, I gathered the sheep beneath the 
shade, and played upon the shepherd's flute, there was a 
friend, the son of a neighbor, to join me in the pastime. 
We led our flocks to the same pasture, and partook 
together our rustic meal. 

One evening, after the sheep were folded, and we were 
all seated beneath the myrtle which shaded our cottage, 
my grandsire, an old man, was telling of Marathon and 
Leuctra ; and how, in ancient times, a little band of 
Spartans, in a defile of the mountains, had withstood a 
whole army. I did not then know what war was ; but 
my cheeks burned, I knew not why, and I clasped the 
knees of that venerable man until my mother, parting 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 319 

the hair from off my forehead, kissed my throbbing 
temples, and bade me go to rest, and think no more of 
those old tales and savage wars. That very night the 
Romans landed on our coast. I saw the breast that had 
nourished me trampled by the hoof of the war horse ; 
the bleeding body of my father flung amid the blazing 
rafters of our dwelling ! 

To-day I killed a man in the arena ; and, when I 
broke his helmet clasps, behold ! he was my friend. He 
knew me, smiled faintly, gasped, and died — the same 
sweet smile upon his lips that I had marked when, in ad- 
venturous boyhood, we scaled the lofty cliff to pluck the 
first ripe grapes, and bear them home in childish triumph ! 
I told the pretor that the dead man had been my friend, 
■ generous and brave ; and I begged that I might bear 
away the body, to burn it on a funeral pile, and mourn 
over its ashes. Ay! upon my knees, amid the dust and 
blood of the arena, I begged that poor boon, while all 
the assembled maids and matrons, and the holy virgins 
they call Vestals, and the rabble, shouted in derision, 
deeming it rare sport, forsooth, to see Rome's fiercest 
gladiator turn pale and tremble at sight of that piece of 
bleeding clay! And the pretor drew back as I were 
pollution, and sternly said : " Let the carrion rot ; there 
are no noble men but Romans ! " And so, fellow- 
gladiators, must you, and so must I, die like dogs. 

O, Rome ! Rome ! thou hast been a tender nurse to 
me. Ay ! thou hast given, to that poor, gentle, timid 
shepherd-lad, who never knew a harsher tone than a flute- 
note, muscles of iron and a heart of flint ; taught him to 
drive the sword through plaited mail and links of rugged 
brass, and warm it in the marrow of his foe : — to gaze 
into the glaring eye-balls of the fierce Numidian lion, even 



320 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

* 

as a boy upon a laughing girl ! And he shall pay thee 
back, until the yellow Tiber is red as frothing wine, and 
in its deepest ooze thy life-blood lies curdled ! 

Ye stand here now like giants, as ye are ! The 
strength of brass is in your toughened sinews ; but to- 
morrow some Roman Adonis, breathing sweet perfume 
from his curly locks, shall with his lily fingers pat your 
red brawn, and bet his sesterces upon your blood. Hark ! 
hear ye yon lion roaring in his den? Tis three days 
since he tasted flesh ; but to-morrow he shall break his 
fast upon yours — and a dainty meal for him ye will be ! 

If ye are beasts, then stand here like fat oxen, wait- 
ing for the butcher's knife ! If ye are men, — follow me ! 
Strike down yon guard, gain the mountain passes, and 
there do bloody work, as did your sires at old Ther-' 
mopylse ! Is Sparta dead ? Is the old Grecian spirit 
frozen in your veins, that you do crouch and cower like a 
belabored hound beneath his master's lash ? O, com- 
rades ! warriors ! Thracians ! — if we must fight, let us 
fight for ourselves! If we must slaughter, let us slaughter 
our oppressors ! If we must die, let it be under the clear 
sky, by the bright waters, in noble, honorable battle ! 

E. Kellogg. 



If We Knew. 



If we knew the woe and heartache 

Waiting for us down the road, 
If our lips could taste the wormwood, 

If our backs could feel the load ; 
Would we waste the day in wishing 

For a time that ne'er can be ? 
Would we wait with such impatience 

For our ships to come from sea ? 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 32 1 

If we knew the baby fingers. 

Pressed against the window pane, 
Would be cold and stiff to-morrow, 

Never trouble us again ; 
Would the bright eyes of our darling 

Catch the frown upon our brow ? 
Would the print of rosy fingers 

Vex us then as they do no now ? 

Ah, those little ice-cold fingers ! 

How they point our memories back 
To the hasty words and actions 

Strewn along our backward track ! 
How those little hands remind us, 

As in snowy grace they lie, 
Not to scatter thorns, but roses, 

For our reaping by and by. 

Strange we never prize the music 

Till the sweet-voiced bird has flown ; 
Strange that we should slight the violets 

Till the lovely flowers are gone ; 
Strange that summer skies and sunshine 

Never seem one-half so fair, 
As when winter's snowy pinions 

Shake their white down in the air. 

Lips from which the seal of silence 

None but God can roll away, 
Never blossomed in such beauty 

As adorns the mouth to-day ; 
And sweet words that freight our memory 

With their beautiful perfume, 
Come to us in sweeter accents 

Through the portals of the tomb. 



32 2 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Let us gather up the sunbeams, 

Lying all around our path ; 
Let us keep the wheat and roses, 

Casting out the thorns and chaff ; 
Let us find our sweetest comfort 

In the blessings of to-day ; 
With a patient hand removing 

All the briars from our way. 



The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava. 



Half a league, half a league, 
Half a league onward, 

All in the Valley of Death 

Rode the Six Hundred. 

"Forward, the Light Brigade! 

Charge for the guns!" he said: 

Into the Valley of Death 
Rode the Six Hundred. 

"Forward, the Light Brigade!" 
Was there a man dismayed? 
Not though the soldier knew 

Some one had blundered: 
Theirs not to make reply, 
Theirs not to reason why, 
Theirs but to do and die': 
Into the Valley of Death 

Rode the Six Hundred. 

Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon in front of them, 
Volleyed and thundered. 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 323 

Stormed at with shot and shell, 
Boldly they rode and well; 
Into the jaws of Death, 
Into the mouth of hell, 
Rode the Six Hundred. 

Flashed all their sabres bare, 
Flashed as they turned in air, 
Sabring the gunners there, 
Charging an army, while 

All the world wondered. 
Plunged in the battery smoke, 
Right through the line they broke; 
Cossack and Russian 
Reeled from the sabre-stroke, 

Shattered and sundered. 
Then they rode back, but not, 

Not the Six Hundred. 

Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon behind them, 

Volleyed and thundered. 
Stormed at with shot and shell, 
While horse and hero fell, 
They that had fought so well 
Came through the jaws of Death 
Back from the mouth of, hell, 
All that was left of them, 

Left of Six Hundred. 

When can their glory fade? 
O the wild charge they made ! 
All the world wondered. 



3^4 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

Honor the charge they made! 
Honor the Light Brigade, 
Noble Six Hundred. 

Tennyson. 



Quarrel Scene Between Brutus and Cassius. 



Cassius. That you have wronged me doth appear in 
this : 
You have condemned and noted Lucius Pella 
For taking bribes here of the Sardians ; 
Wherein my letters, praying on his side. 
Because I knew the man, were slighted off. 

Brutus. You wronged yourself to write in such a case. 

Cas. In such a time as this, it is not meet 
That every nice offense should bear his comment. 

Bru. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself 
Are much condemned to have an itching palm ; 
To sell and mart your offices for gold 
To undeservers. 

Cas. I an itching palm ? 

You know that you are Brutus that speak this, 
Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last. 

Bru. The name of Cassius honors this corruption, 
And chastisement doth therefore hide his head. 

Cas. Chastisement ! 

Bru. Remember March, the ides of March remember. 
Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? 
What villain touched his body, that did stab, 
And not for justice ? What, shall one of us, 
That struck the foremost man of all this world 
But for supporting robbers — shall we now 
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes, 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 325 

And sell the mighty space of our large honors 
For so much trash as may be grasped thus ? 
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, 
Than such a Roman. 

Cas. Brutus, bay not me ; 

I'll not endure it : you forget yourself 
To hedge me in ; I am a soldier — I, 
Older in practice, abler than yourself 
To make conditions. 

Brn. Go to ; you're not, Cassius. 

Cas. I am. 

Bru. I say you are not. 

Cas. Urge me no more ; I shall forget myself ; 
Have mind upon your health ; tempt me no further. 

Bru. Away, slight man ! 

Cas. Is't possible ? 

Bru. Hear me, for I will speak. 
Must I give way and room to your rash choler ? 
Shall I be frighted when a madman stares ? 

Cas. Oh ye gods ! ye gods ! must I endure all this ? 

Bru. All this ? ay, more : Fret till your proud heart 
break ; 
Go show your slaves how choleric you are, 
And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge ? 
Must I observe you ? Must I stand and crouch 
Under your testy humor ? By the gods, 
You shall digest the venom of your spleen, 
Though it do split you ; for, from this day forth, 
I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter, 
When you are waspish. 

Cas. Is it come to this? 

Bru. You say you are a better soldier : 
Let it appear so ; make your vaunting true, 



326 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

And it shall please me well : for mine own part, 
I shall be glad to learn of noble men. 

Cas. You wrong me every way ; you wrong me, Brutus ; 
I said an elder soldier, not a better : 
Did I say better ? 

Bru. If you did, I care not. 

Cas. When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved 
me. 

Bru. Peace, peace ; you durst not so have tempted 
him. 

Cas. I durst not ? 

Bru. No. 

Cas. What? durst not tempt him? 

Bru. _ For your life you durst not. 

Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love • 
I may do that I shall be sorry for. 

Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for. 
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats ; 
For I am armed so strong in honesty, 
That they pass by me as the idle wind, 
Which I respect not. I did send to you 
For certain sums of gold, which you denied me; — 
For I can raise no money by vile means : 
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart, . 
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring 
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash 
By any indirection. I did send 
To you for gold to pay my legions, 
Which you denied me : was that done like Cassius? 
Should I have answered Caius Cassius so? 
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, 
To lock such rascal counters from his friends, 
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts — 



READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 327 

Dash him to pieces ! 

Cas. I denied you not. 

Bru. You did. 

Cas. I did not : — he was but a fool 

That brought my answer back. — Brutus hath rived my 

heart ; 
A friend should bear his friend's infirmities ; 
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. 

Bru. I do not, till you practice them on me. 

Cas. You love me not. 

Bru. I do not like your faults. 

Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults. 

Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear 
As huge as high Olympus. 

Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, 
Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius ; 
For Cassius is aweary of the world : 
Hated by one he loves ; braved by his brother ; 
Checked like a bondman ; all his faults observed, 
Set in a note-book, learned and conn'd by rote, 
To cast into my teeth. Oh, I could weep 
My spirit from mine eyes ! — There is my dagger, 
And here my naked breast ; within, a heart 
Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold : 
If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth ; 
I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart : 
Strike, as thou didst at Caesar ; for, I know, 
When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better 
Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius. 

Bru. Sheathe your dagger : 

Be angry when you will, it shall have scope ; 
Do what you will, dishonor shall be humor. 
Oh Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb 



328 VOICE CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 

That carries anger as the flint bears fire ; 
Who, much enforce'd, shows a hasty spark, 
And straight is cold again. 

Cas. Hath Cassius lived 

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, 
When grief and blood ill-tempered vexeth him ? 

Bru. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered too. 

Cas. Do you confess so much ? Give me your hand. 

Bru. And my heart too. 

Cas. Oh Brutus !— 

Bru. What's the matter? 

Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me, 
When that rash humor, which my mother gave me, 
Makes me forgetful ? 

Bru. Yes, Cassius ; and, henceforth, 

When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, 
He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so. 

Shakespeare. 



The Flag of our Union. 



A song for our banner ? The watchword recall 
Which gave the Republic her station: 
' United we stand — divided we fall ! " 
It made and preserves us a nation ! 
The union of lakes — the union of lands — 

The union of States none can sever — 

The union of hearts — the union of hands — 

And the Flag of our Union' forever ! 

Geo. P. A 






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